'STIAN  PASTOR. 


TfY  THE 


STEPHEN  H.  TYNG,  D.D 


GIFT  OF 


THE   OFFICE  AND  DUTY 


OF  A 


CHRISTIAN  PASTOR. 


Br  STEPHEN  II.  TYNG,  D.D., 

RECTOR  OF  ST.  GEORGE'S  CHURCII  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 


PUBLISHED   AT    THE  REQUEST   OF   THE   STUDENTS   AND   FACULTY   OF   THE 
SCHOOL   OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  BOSTON  UNIVERSITY. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN      SQUARE. 

1874. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

HARPER   &  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


THE 

OFFICE  AND  DUTY  or  A  CHRISTIAN  PASTOR. 


LECTURE  I. 

September   39,  1873. 


AT  the  request  of  the  authorities  of  the  Boston 
University,  I  am  here  to  address  students  preparing 
for  the  Christian  ministry  in  the  SCHOOL  OF  THEOL 
OGY  of  this  promising  and  important  Institution. 

The  subject  proposed  for  my  consideration  is  the 
practical  one,  which  comes  under' the  title  of  PASTOR 
AL  THEOLOGY.  I  have  accepted  this  invitation  with 
much  pleasure,  both  as  a  token  of  the  personal  con 
fidence  and  respect  which  it  expresses,  and  as  an  oc 
casion  to  manifest  my  abiding  interest  in  young  men 
so  occupied,  and  my  cordial  sympathy  with  this  no 
ble  foundation  for  the  promotion  of  evangelical 
truth  among  the  influential  and  intelligent  popula 
tion  of  this  city. 

It  has  been  one  of  the  joys  of  my  life  to  mingle 
in  the  mutual  offices  of  edification,  encouragement, 


THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 


and  sympathy  with.  "  all  those  who  love  our  Lord  Je 
sus  Christ  in  sincerity."  Under  the  providence-  of 
our  common  heavenly  Guide,  rny  own  ministry  has 
been  pursued  in  that  old  Church  of  the  Reformation, 
one  of  the  fruits  and  progeny  of  which  is  the  active 
and  widespreading  Christian  body  to  which  this 
school  of  theology  belongs.  But  I  gratefully  ac 
knowledge  "  one  body "  among,  all  the  disciples  of 
our  gracious  redeeming  Lord;  and  in  this  assembly 
I  feel  myself  in  reality  as  much  at  home  as  if  I  had 
as  openly  taken  the  arm  of  Wesley,  as  I  have  truly 
desired  to  imbibe  the  spirit  and  to  exercise  the  power 
of  Whitefield,  in  the  great  purpose  and  warfare  on 
earth,  in  which  both  were  so  equally  and  truly  en 
gaged. 

The  direct  object  and  purpose  of  my  present  per 
sonal  effort  among  the  young  servants  of  Christ,  to 
whom  I  now  address  myself,  is  not  to  bring  any 
scheme  of  mere  dogmatic  theology,  or  to  make  any 
attempt  at  learned  or  critical  course  of  theoretic  in 
struction.  I  have  been  invited  to  give  them,  on  the 
general  subject  proposed  to  me,  some  of  the  results 
of  my  own  observation  and  experience  in  a  long  and 
active  life  in  the  Christian  ministry;  as  a  familiar 
testimony  of  facts,  rather  than  as  a  preconceived 


OF   A   GIIEISTIAN   PASTOR.  0 

theory  of  opinion :  and  this  I  shall  desire  and  en 
deavor  to  do. 

More  than  fifty-three  years  of  active  ministry,  for 
ty-four  of  which  have  been  passed  in  the  two  great 
cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  have  certainly 
given  me  large  opportunities  for  such  observation 
and  experience  in  this  most  important  field  of  social 
and  religious  life.  And  much  ought  to  have  been 
gathered  from  such  a  field  which  might  be  made 
useful  to  younger  brethren  in  this  comprehensive  and 
all-important  work. 

A  life  so  active  and  occupied  has  given  little  op 
portunity  for  those  collateral  and  incidental  pursuits 
in  literary  and  scientific  attainment  which  are  the 
delight  of  the  educated  mind,  and  the  peculiar  claim 
and  distinction  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  The 
successful  professional  man  becomes  habitually  too 
exclusively  professional  to  allow  himself  the  relaxa 
tion  of  much  diversion,  or  to  permit  the  distinction 
of  eminence  in  any  walks  of  mental  research  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  own  selected  path.  Under  this  con 
stant  pressure,  I  have  been  compelled  to  say,  in  the 
language  of  the  great  apostle,  "  This  one  thing  I  do." 
But  I  have  found  a  life  .so  organized  and  occupied  a 
most  happy  sequestration  of  time  and  thought,  of 
A2 


10  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

energy  and  means  of  influence,  when  thus  completely 
given  to  ministering  to  my  fellow-men, "  both  pub 
licly  and  from  house  to  house,  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ." 

Some  of  the  results  and  acquisitions  of  such  a  life 
I  have  been  requested  to  give  to  you,  my  younger 
brethren  in  Christ.  This  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  in  a 
manner  perfectly  simple  and  conversational;  and  with 
some  illustrations  in  facts,  which  must  be  considered 
unavoidable,  and  will  be  regarded  perhaps  as  not  al 
together  undesirable,  in  the  line  of  thought  and  sug 
gestion  which  I  have  been  requested  here  to  exhibit 
and  impress. 

In  carrying  out  this  effort,  I  shall  assume  an  entire 
unity  of  general  sentiment  and  purpose  with  me 
among  those  to  whom  I  particularly  speak.  As  an 
earlier  traveler  in  the  road  of  our  united  selection,  I 
Come  back  to  aid,  if  I  may,  those  who  are  following 
me,  by  telling  them  something  of  the  path  as  I  have 
found  it ;  some  of  the  things  which  I  have  seen  and 
learned  upon  the  road;  and  some  of  the  joys  and 
trials,  the  mistakes  and  the  means  of  safety  and  suc 
cess,  which  I  have  met ;  as  prepared  for  others  who 
travel  it  with  a  sincere,  upright,  and  earnest  spirit. 

Fifty- four  years  have  gone  since  I  left  this  old 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  11 

and  much-loved  Boston,  my  father's  home,  as  a  homo 
for  me.  But  age  and  years  have  in  no  degree  less 
ened  the  home  love  of  a  "  Boston  boy ;"  and  to  other 
boys  of  another  generation  I  come  back  to  speak  of 
the  interesting  subjects  proposed  to  me  here. 

To  give  some  aspect  of  form  to  utterances  which 
would  be  likely  to  become  too  desultory  and  hetero 
geneous  without  some  scheme  proposed,  I  shall  pro 
ceed  to  speak  of  PASTOK AL  DUTY,  rather  than  PASTOR 
AL  THEOLOGY  :  of  the  concrete  of  action,  rather  than 
of  the  abstract  of  principle  'and  power.  In  accom 
plishing  this  design,  I  shall  cast  the  whole  subject 
into  a  consideration  of  the  CHRISTIAN  PASTOR,  in  HIS 

OBJECT,  HIS  QUALIFICATIONS,  HIS  INSTRUMENTS,  HIS  AGEN 
CIES,  ins  POWER,  and  HIS  ATTAINMENTS. 

In  introducing  the  general  subject,  I  must  remark 
that  the  Christian  pastor  is  the  Christian  preacher, 
occupied  in  the  private,  relative  personality  and  ap 
plication  of  his  work.  The  two  separate  titles  present 
aspects  which  are  reciprocally  complemental  and  ad 
juvant  to  each  other. 

But  they  involve  tasks,  to  say  the  least,  so  separate 
and  discriminate  in  their  details,  that  it  is  by  no 
means  actually  frequent  that  the  same  person  be 
comes  equally  successful  in  both  departments.  In- 


12  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

deed,  each  of  these  departments  of  duty  so  completely 
demands  the  whole  man,  that  the  success  in  the  one 
exercise  is  frequently  rather  the  alternate  of  success 
in  the  other;  and  yet  they  are  but  two  parts  of  a 
living  organism,  properly  conjoined,  and  improperly 
separated.  They  ought  never  to  be,  and  they  can  not 
safely  be,  torn  asunder.  The  same  man  can  be  both, 
and  can  be  better  in  each  when  they  are  properly 
united  than  when  purposely  giving  his  whole  mind 
and  attention  exclusively  or  mainly  to  either  apart. 

To  place  these  two  offices  of  the  Christian  ministry 
in  comparison  for  mutual  illustration,  we  may  say 
the  Christian  preacher  is  the  public  official  teacher 
of  divinely  revealed  objective  truth.  The  Christian 
pastor  is  the  private  acknowledged  .minister  of  the 
same  truth,  in  its  personal  application  and  subjective 
individual  experience. 

Distinctively,  the  one  exercise  of  this  twofold  office 
requires  especially  an  intellect  divinely  enlightened, 
and  the  peculiar  ability  publicly  to  expound  these  great 
things  divinely  revealed,  as  ministering  salvation  to 
the  soul  of  man.  The  other  needs  especially  an  af 
fectionate  and  sanctified  heart,  and  the  power  of  an 
active,  discerning  sympathy,  ready  to  meet  the  varied 
conditions  of  ignorant,  suffering,  or  advancing  man. 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  13 

The  special  gift  for  the  one  is  extending  knowledge 
of  the  great  and  glorious  revelations  of  the  Gospel. 
The  gift  needed  for  the  other  is  a  deepening  personal 
experience  and  observation  of  their  practical  worth. 
To  the  one,  a  clear  intelligence  and  comprehension 
of  these  divine  declarations  of  truth,  in  their  general 
aspect,  are  essential.  For  the  other,  a  discriminate 
consciousness  of  the  proper  persons,  and  the  appro 
priate  conditions  of  human  life,  to  which  these 
heavenly  instructions  are  to  be  applied,  is  needed. 

Together  they  present  a  vast  field  for  human  at 
tainments,  and  for  relative,  personal  influence  upon 
man.  Age  and  study,  prayer  and  faith,  love  and 
earnestness,  and  persevering  fidelity,  are  indispensable 
to  them  both,  But  in  the  Christian  ministry,  as  in 
the  medical  profession,  younger  men,  with  whatever 
talent,  must  practice  mainly  by  their  knowledge  of 
the  efforts  of  others,  as  described  in  books  or  impart 
ed  in  lectures ;  while  older  and  more  mature  agents 
habitually  prescribe  upon  the  results  of  their  own  ob 
servation  and  individual  experience. 

Thus  is  it  with  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Youth  presses  on,  in  an  opening, 
expanding  road,  under  the  imparted  guidance  of 
those  who  have  successfully  preceded.  Age  even 


14  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

mare  firmly  rests  for  its  duties  in  the  future  upon  its 
own  retrospection  of  the  way  already  traveled.  The 
incidents,  facts,  and  principles  of  action,  which  have 
been  already  demonstrated  in  the  light  of  the  past, 
become  the  advisers  and  guides  for  the  obligations 
of  the  future. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  separate  these  two  offices 
of  the  Christian  ministry  in  our  personal  considera 
tion  of  them.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
Christian  pastor  is  the  generic  office  and  character. 
The  Christian  preacher  is  this  pastor  in  the  exercise 
of  a  single  gift,  in  the  fulfillment  of  a  single  office,  in 
this  one  great  and  comprehensive  purpose  and  work, 
appointed  and  established  by  the  Lord  of  all. 

In  proceeding  to  consider  the  special  relations  of 
the  pastoral  work,  we  can  not  magnify  the  influence, 
the  usefulness,  or  the  dignity  of  this  divinely  estab 
lished  office  among  men.  The  Almighty  Saviour, 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  of  God,  is  himself  the 
Chief  Shepherd ;  and  his  whole  redeemed  Church  are 
his  flock — the  sheep  of  his  pasture.  lie  feeds  them. 
He  leads  them  forth.  He  goes  before  them.  He  is 
their  guide,  their  example,  their  watchman,  and  their 
provider. 

And  he  says  to  those  whom  he  calls  to  unite  with 


OF   A  CHRISTIAN  PASTOR.  15 

him  and  to  follow  him  in  this  gracious  work,  "  As 
my  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  have  I  sent  you." 
"  Feed  my  sheep.  Feed  my  lambs."  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Such  is  a  general  view  of  the  office  and  work  of 
a  Christian  pastor.  In  the  impressive  language  of 
the  Episcopal  Liturgy,  they  are  "  called  to  be  messen 
gers,  watchmen,  stewards  of  the  Lord;  to  teach,  to 
premonish,  to  feed,  to  provide  for  the  Lord's  family  ; 
to  seek  for  Christ's  sheep  that  are  dispersed  abroad, 
and  for  his  children,  who  are  in  the  midst  of  this 
evil  world,  that  they  may  be  saved  through  Christ 
forever." 

In  proceeding  to  discuss  the  specific  and  relative 
character  of  this  office,  in  the  details  of  its  operation, 
I  can  not  enter  upon  any  particular  discussion  of 
preaching,  as  a  portion  of  its  proper  fulfillment.  My 
appropriate  purpose  leads  me  to  consider  with  you 
the  private,  personal  ministrations  of  the  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  as  the  special  field  for  the  pastor's  office. 

To  the  importance  and  special  efficacy,  under  the 
blessing  of  God,  of  this  ministration  for  Jesus  from 
house  to  house,  "in  season  and  out  of  season,"  the 
combined  experience  and  wisdom  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  will  testify  in  perfect  harmony. 


10  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Dr.  Watts  has  said  that  the  man  who  has  the  hap 
py  talent  for  parlor  preaching  may  often  be  made 
the  instrument  of  more  good  in  a  few  hours  than 
others  can  do  without  it  in  many  years. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  very  distinguished  layman  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  who  had  himself  been  long  a  local 
preacher — a  man  of  education  and  large  influence — 
said  to  me :  "  They  are  not  the  great  preachers  in 
our  Church  who  are  the  most  useful  to  us,  but  the 
faithful,  earnest  pastors.  Our  revivals  come  more 
from  prayer  and  private  exhortation  than  from  pub 
lic  preaching." 

About  the  same  time  a  very  influential  layman  in 
the  city  of  Washington  said  to  me  of  one  of  the  Epis 
copal  clergymen  of  that  city,  by  no  means  a  great 

or  eloquent  preacher,  "  Mr.  II is  an  angel  in  a 

sick-room.  Ilis  visits  are  to  me  like  heavenly  visits." 

My  whole  personal  experience  and  observation  in 
the  long  period  since  passed  have  fully  confirmed  the 
truth  of  such  estimates. 

I  knew  a  very  fine  preacher  in  the  Episcopal  Church 
who  was  wholly  unsuited  in  his  tastes  and  absent 
habits  for  the  work  of  a  pastor.  His  ministry  be 
came  the. subject  of  conversation,  and  the  question 
was  asked,  "  Why  is  not  Dr.  S more  practically 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  17 

useful  ?  The  work  does  not  seem  to  prosper  with 
him."  The  answer  made  was,  "  lie  loses  the  whole 
of  his  Sabbath  influence  in  the  week.  lie  is  like  a 
farmer  who  had  surrounded  his  land  with  finely 
turned  posts,  but  neglected  to  put  up  his  panels  of 
fence,  and  wondered  why  the  cattle  strayed  in  upon 
his  ground.  "Well-turned  posts  will  not  keep  cattle 
out,  nor  secure  the  prosperity  of  the  field.  You  must 
put  up  your  panels  of  fence.  Your  weekly  pastor 
work  is  your  fence.  Nothing  else  will  guard  the  Sav 
iour's  work,  keep  out  opposing  influence,  or  secure  a 
harvest  for  the  honor  of  the  Lord." 

But  we  will  proceed  to  consider  our  subject  more 
distinctly  in  the  order  which  we  have  proposed  : 
What  is  the  personal  OBJECT  of  the  pastor  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  ?  What  has  he  been  sent  into  the 
world  to  do  ?  The  attempt  to  discuss  such  a  theme 
as  is  here  proposed  in  a  single  address  like  this,  with 
any  practical  efficacy,  will  prove,  in  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  an  extremely  superficial  and  fragmentary 
work.  But  still  I  propose  to  you  the  question :  For 
what  is  this  Christian  pastor  intended,  in  the  person 
ality  of  his  office,  by  the  Lord  who  has  sent  him  forth 
and  commissioned  him  for  his  own  service  on  the 
earth  ? 


18  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

I  answer  YOU  :  In  the  very  character  and  structure 
of  liis  office,  he  is  a  divinely  appointed  messenger, 
an  embassador,  an  agent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  everlasting  Saviour  of  men,  to  proclaim  and  min 
ister  his  great  salvation  to  the  souls  of  fallen  men. 
He  is  the  authoritative  bearer  of  a  divine  message — 
of  reconciliation  —  of  pardon  —  of  acceptance  with 
God — of  spiritual  consolation  and  strength  from  a 
God  of  infinite  love  to  the  homes  and  hearts  of  sin 
ful,  weary,  waiting,  suffering  men. 

He  is  not  merely  a  Christian  gentleman  among  his 
fellow-men.  He  does  not  go  on  a  voluntary  neigh 
borly  visit,  as  a  private  Christian  friend.  He  does 
not  speak  to  others  simply  as  a  sympathizing,  intel 
ligent  companion,  upon  his  important  theme.  He 
goes  as  an  appointed  messenger  of  Jesus  Christ  his 
Lord,  bearing  special  tidings  of  salvation  in  his  Mas 
ter's  name,  to  a  selected  household,  or  to  an  individ 
ual  immortal  soul.  He  has  been  called  and  appoint 
ed  by  the  Lord  himself  for  this  special  work  and 
message  now  intrusted  to  him. 

Of  the  particular  character  and  evidences  of  this 
call  from  God  I  can  not  now  speak ;  but  I  can  take 
no  lower  ground  than  this  in  the  general  considera 
tion  of  this  subject  in  which  I  am  now  engaged.  In 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  10 

the  Liturgy  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  first  ques 
tion  which  is  proposed  to  the  applicant  for  ordination 
to  the  ministry  is,  "Do  you  trust  that  you  are  in 
wardly  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  take  upon  you 
this  office  and  ministration,  to  serve  God  for  the 
promotion  of  his  glory  and  the  edification  of  his 
people  ?" 

In  our  present  contemplation  of  the  subject,  there 
is  to  be  considered  and  conceded  a  distinct  divine 
call,  an  inward,  personal  motion,  to  this  ministry,  for 
the  promotion  and  attainment  of  a  twofold  object, 
separately  relating  to  the  gracious  Saviour,  by  whom, 
and  to  the  souls  of  his  people  for  whom,  we  are  em 
ployed  and  sent.  And  our  mission  has  this  twofold 
object  always  in  view :  To  GLORIFY  THIS  EXALTED 
SAVIOUR;  and  to  lead  the  souls  of  sinful  men  grate 
fully  to  receive,  to  accept,  and  to  live  in  HIM,  and 
for  HIM — the  HONOR  OF  JESUS  and  the  SALVATION  OF 
MEN.  And  this  twofold  object  of  the  Christian  pas 
tor's  life  and  mission  I  ask  you  to  consider  in  their 
successive  aspects. 

The  FIRST  impelling,  attracting  purpose  in  this 
great  work  of  your  life  will  be  the  HONOR  of  that 
great  redeeming  Lord,  whose  you  are  and  whom 
you  serve.  This  will  be  to  you  a  distinct,  conscious, 


20  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

and  defined  purpose  of  your  mind  and  heart.  If 
the  love  of  Christ  really  constrain  you,  this  motion 
of  life  and  action  will  be  no  shadowy  imagination — 
no  sanctimonious  pretense ;  but  a  consciousness  as 
real,  as  clear,  as  practical  as  any  personal  impulse 
can  be,  of  human  friendship,  of  grateful  recognition, 
or  of  social  duties,  in  any  of  the  individual  relations 
of  active  life. 

Others  may  discuss -as  they  please,  in  the  cold  in 
difference  of  intellectual,  unbelieving  speculation,  the 
reality  of  the  Saviour's  being  and  history,  the  scale 
of  his  nature,  the  questions  of  his  authority.  To 
your  practical,  individual  experience  of  his  love,  and 
earnest  consciousness  of  your  own  personal  love  for 
him,  equally  distinct,  there  will  be  no  distracting  or 
retarding  questions  here. 

We  "know  whom  we  have  believed."  To  us  the 
word  of  Jesus  is  infallible,  unchanging  truth.  His 
love  and  active  goodness  are  unsearchable  riches  of 
grace.  His  authority  is  absolute  and  entire.  "In 
him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily. 
And  we  are  complete  in  him.  He  is  the  brightness 
of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person." 

We  are  called  to  represent  him.    We  go  from  him. 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  21 

We  c;o  for  him.     We  are  the  bearers  of  a  divine 

O 

message  to  be  delivered  to  others,  by  his  authority 
and  for  his  honor.  It  is  a  message  of  direct  salva 
tion  from  God  to  man.  From  God  forgiving,  to  man 
condemned.  This  is  a  message  of  facts  perfected ; 
of  a  work  accomplished ;  of  purposes,  invitations,  and 
offers  founded  upon  these  facts — the  offer  of  a  com 
plete,  immediate,  everlasting  salvation,  presented  to 
the  faith,  to  the  grateful  acceptance,  to  the  affec 
tionate  trust  of  man,  in  the  freest,  fullest  message : 
"  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely." 

This  is  your  message  to  each,  to.  all  to  whom  you 
are  sent.  It  is  "  the  old,  old  story ;"  yet  it  is  always 
new,  always  living,  and  by  God's  Holy  Spirit  always 
to  be  made  effectual.  Wherever  we  go,  we  have  the 
same  great  and  gracious  work  committed  to  us ;  and 
we  "  are  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  who  be 
lie  veth."  We  love  to  tell  this  precious  story — over, 
over,  and  over  again — in  every  house;  at  every  bed 
side  of  sickness;  in  every  chamber  of  sorrow;  to 
every  anxious,  burdened  heart ;  in  the  midst  of  every 
afflicted  household ;  to  every  waiting  sinner  like  our 
selves,  wherever  we  may  find  him. 


22  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

We  are  never  wearied  with  proclaiming  this  gra 
cious  message  from  God.  We  love  to  repeat  this  ef 
fective  intelligence  of  pardon  for  the  chief  of  sinners, 
through  the  atoning  blood  of  an  Almighty  Saviour. 
We  feel  its  blessedness ;  we  know  its  power ;  we  de 
light  to  meditate  upon  it;  and  we  do  not  fear  nor 
hesitate  to  proclaim  it  freely,  whether  men  will  hear 
or  whether  they  will  forbear.  In  this  great  work,  to 
which  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  to  call  us,  we  desire 
to  set  him  always  before  us ;  and  to  see  Jesus  only, 
clothed  with  glory  and  honor. 

You  can  not  throw  yourselves  upon  the  power  and 
truth  of  the  divine  message  too  simply,  too  constantly, 
too  completely.  You  need  never  fear  failing  in  your 
work  by  preaching  the  gracious  work  of  Jesus ;  or 
wearying  those  who  hear  you  by  an  unwearied  cling 
ing  to  the  simple  Gospel  of  a  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour. 

Go,  tell  the  world  abroad,  from  house  to  house,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  the  things  which  God  hath 
done,  and  which  God  hath  revealed.  The  glory  of 
a  divine  incarnation — "God  manifest  in  the  flesh." 
The  mercy  of  a  personal  assumption,  by  an  infinite 
Saviour,  of  the  condition  and  responsibility  of  lost 
and  ruined  man.  The  gracious  offering  in  sacrifice 


OF    A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  23 

of  an  atoning  death — a  "  propitiation  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world ;"  the  accomplishment  of  a  glorious 
resurrection ;  an  accepted  obedience ;  a  complete  and 
unalterable  victory,  for  guilty  but  believing  man, 
over  condemnation  and  death.  Go,  tell  with  all  the 
earnestness  of  a  loving,  grateful  heart,  of  perfect  rec 
onciliation  from  God  to  man ;  of  real  and  joyful 
hope  for  man  in~God;  of  newness  and  holiness  of 
life — life  eternal,  a  full  assurance  of  hope ;  all  con 
stituting,  all  meeting  in  a  glorious  Christ — a  crucified 

O'  O  <-j 

Christ ;  presenting  to  every  believing  soiil,  complete, 
perfect,  everlasting  salvation  in  him,  in  whom  alone 
all  fullness  must  dwell  forever ;  and  from  whose  per 
sonal  fullness  believing  souls  must  receive  "  grace 
upon  grace." 

This  is  your  great  pastoral  work  for  Jesus  on  earth. 
We  do  not  say  to  you,  Go,  discuss  this  great  subject; 
argue  about  it ;  show  how  it  can  be,  or  may  be,  true. 
Waste  your  time  in  no  such  outside  folly.  Deliver 
your  message  on  the  authority  of  the  infallible  word 
of  God.  "  Obey  your  orders,"  simply,  constantly. 

A  chaplain  at  "Walmer  Castle,  the  official  residence 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  attempted  to  apologize 
for  a  sermon  at  which  the  Duke  was  unexpectedly 
present.  He  was  instantly  met  with  the  bluff  but 


24  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

appropriate  reply, "  What  are  your  orders,  sir  ?  What 
are  your  Master's  orders  ?" 

You  go  forth  to  obey  your  orders.  "  In  the  morn 
ing  sow  thy  seed.  In  the  evening  withhold  not  thine 
hand.  For  tliou  knowest  not  whether  shall  prosper, 
either  this  or  that;  or  whether  they  shall  be  both 
alike  good."  Wherever  you  are,  tell  your  precious 
tidings  to  some  one.  The  message  of  that  which  God 
has  done  is  the  offer  of  that  which  man  may  have. 
Complete  forgiveness  in  a  Saviour's  death;  everlast 
ing  cleansing  in  the  power  of  a  Saviour's  precious 
blood ;  unchangeable  acceptance  with  God  in  a  Sav 
iour's  perfect  obedience  for  man  ;  eternal  life,  the 
gracious  gift  of  God  in  him. 

Never  be  afraid  to  deliver  this  message  freely. 
Unlimited  in  its  relation  to  persons.  Unconditional 
in  its  offer  to  individuals.  Perfectly  candid  and  free 
in  its  approach  to  every  sinful  man.  Immediate  in 
its  full  blessing  upon  the  soul  believing.  To  be  at 
once  accepted — entire,  undivided,  indivisible.  Bring 
ing  perfect,  eternal  salvation  to  all  who  will  receive 
the  message,  with  faith  and  grateful  love  toward  the 
one  glorious  Saviour  of  the  lost,  perfect  and  complete 
in  him. 

If  any  object,  or  revile,  or  oppose,  we  simply  say, 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN    PASTOR.  25 

"  We  are  not  careful  to  answer  you  concerning  this 
matter."  "We  are  doing  a  great  work  ;  we  can  not 
come  down  ;  wherefore  should  the  work  cease,  while 
we  leave  it  and  come  down  to  you  ?" 

Richard  Cecil,  a  faithful  evangelical  preacher  of 
the  Church  of  England,  received  a  visit  from  a  gen 
tleman  in  his  study,  who  came  with  the  proposal  to 
discuss  with  him  the  subject  of  a  preceding  discourse. 
Cecil  answered  him,  "  My  dear  friend,  I  am  willing 
freely  to  tell  you  all  I  know,  and  to  answer  any  ques 
tion  which  I  can ;  but  my  mind  is  perfectly  settled 
and  satisfied  upon  the  whole  of  this  great  subject, 
and  I  do  not  desire  any  discussion  about  it." 

You  do  not  go  out  to  discuss  about  the  glorious 
message  which  you  are  sent  to  carry  to  your  fellow- 
men.  You  go  simply  and  plainly  to  teach  in  your 
Master's  name,  and  with  his  promised  presence  and 
help.  You  will  gain  every  thing  by  a  simple,  honest, 
affectionate  delivering  of  your  message.  You  will 
gain  nothing  by  a  discussion  of  its  truth  or  its  author 
ity.  You  will  deliver  your  message.  You  will  ear 
nestly  impress  its  importance.  You  will  beg  its  grate 
ful  acceptance.  And  you  may  say,  with  the  servant 
of  Abraham,  "  !Nbw  if  you  will  deal  kindly  and  truly 
with  my  Master,  tell  me  ;  and  if  not,  tell  me  :  that  I 

B 


26  THE   OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

may  turn  to  the  riglit  hand  or  the  left."  But  deliver 
your  message  distinctly,  kindly,  positively,  and  with 
out  fear.  The  Lord  will  bless  the  faithful  witness. 

Forty  years  ago,  I  was  quietly  seated  in  my  study, 
in  Philadelphia,  when  a  very  respectable  gentleman, 
a  stranger  to  me,  introduced  himself  and  said, "  I  have 
been  round  among  the  churches  of  this  city,  anxious 
to  know  the  way  of  truth  and  safety  for  my  own  soul. 
You  seem  always  to  speak  as  if  you  were  perfectly 
sure,  and  had  no  doubt  upon  the  subjects  of  which 
you  speak.  I  have  been  much  impressed  by  your 
simplicity  and  constancy  of  statement,  and  I  have  de 
termined  to  unite  with  you.  I  came  to  lay  my  case 
before  you,  and  to  confer  with  you  upon  the  great 
subject  of  your  teaching."  That  visit  led  to  his  grate 
ful  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  Saviour's 
love.  That  man  still  lives  to  show  the  fruits  of  this 
precious  Gospel  in  a  life  of  Christian  usefulness,  pro 
tracted  to  a  very  advanced  age. 

Far  later  in  my  work,  a  young  man  came  to  me  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
United  States  Navy.  He  had  heard  me  as  a  stranger, 
and  he  came  to  my  study  to  present  the  same  gen 
eral  difficulty,  and  to  propose  very  much  the  same 
questions  as  the  one  just  alluded  to.  He  described 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN    PASTOK.  27 

the  different  uncertain  and  unsatisfying  directions 
which  he  had  received.  With  great  earnestness  and 
emotion,  he  begged  from  me  a  simple  guidance  in  the 
way  of  divine  truth.  I  expounded  to  him,  in  as  clear 
and  short  a  manner  as  I  could,  the  full  and  triumphant 
scheme  of  God's  salvation  as  revealed  in  Jesus,  and 
presented  in  the  one  perfect  offer  of  a  complete  Sav 
iour  in  him,  to  every  believing  soul.  lie  listened  with 
intense  interest,  his  countenance  glowing  with  emo 
tion.  I  said  to  him,  as  I  closed,  "  Now,  in  accepting 
this  glorious  system  of  grace,  do  you  feel  yourself  a 
man  to  be  saved  by  any  thing  that  you  can  do,  or  as  a 
man  already  saved  by  that  which  the  Son  of  God  has 
done  for  you  ?" 

lie  answered  me,  after  a  little  thought,  with  flowing 
tears,  "  I  do  not  see,  in  your  statement  of  the  matter, 
but  I  am  a  man  already  saved."  "Well,"  said  I, 
"  what,  then,  has  a  saved  man  to  do  ?"  "  I  do  not  see," 
he  replied, "  that  he  has  any  thing  to  do  but  to  love, 
trust,  and  be  happy."  "  What  more  can  he  do  2"  I 
said.  "  That  is  heaven.  That  is  the  whole  of  such  a 
life  forever." 

In  profuse  weeping,  he  covered  his  face  with  his 
handkerchief  and  said,  "  Oh,'  excuse  me,  sir.  But  I 
have  never  heard  such  teaching  before."  He  left  me, 


28  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

rejoicing  in  the  freeness  and  fullness  of  this  precious 
Gospel  of  a  Saviour's  grace  and  love. 

I  trust  I  have  thus  presented  to  you,  with  sufficient 
clearness,  a  distinct  and  conscious  object  in  the  pas 
tor's  work.  This  is  his  first  object.  He  goes  forth 
into  the  field  of  a  Gospel  ministry  to  proclaim  a  Sav 
iour's  fullness,  and  to  honor  and  glorify  this  Saviour's 
character  and  name.  This  is  the  first,  controlling, 
commanding  object  of  his  life — the  honor  of  Jesus, 
his  glorious  Lord.  "  The  sound  of  his  Master's  feet 
is  behind  him."  If  Christ  shall  be  magnified  in  him, 
this  is  "  all  his  salvation,  and  all  his  desire."  And 
this  rewards  him  for  all  his  toil,  whether  in  life  or  in 
death. 

I  wish  you  to  realize  this  great  principle  and  fact. 
We  are  extremely  tempted  and  prone  to  lose  sight  of 
this  great  living,  practical  result  of  our  office  and 
work;  and  to  put  some  other,  but  inferior  results, 
which  may  be  the  rightful  consequences  of  this  one 
high  purpose,  before  it  in  place  and  in  degree. 

Let  me  earnestly  entreat  you,  in  public  and  in  pri 
vate,  to  make  all  your  work,  in  its  highest  purpose,  its 
first  and  its  last  design,  consciously,  clearly,  constantly, 
a  grateful  labor  for  the  Saviour's  glory ;  and  a  de 
termined  purpose  to  count  all  things  but  loss  for  his 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  20 

honor.  You  are  charged  with  a  positive,  distinct  mes 
sage  from  him,  to  be  delivered  simply  and  faithfully 
to  every  class  of  men  and  to  every  condition  of  man. 
And  you  will  glorify  him  by  "  taking  of  the  things 
which  are  his,  and  showing  these  to  men." 

This  work,  in  its  highest  manifestation,  is  the  work 
and  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  our  ministry  be 
comes  a  ministry  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  is  in  the 
power  and  purpose  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  degree  in 
which  we  unite  with  him,  and  under  his  guidance,  in 
testifying  always  and  only  the  unspeakable  fullness 
of  this  glorious,  atoning,  exalted  Saviour. 

We  will  pass  from  this  first  controlling  object  in  a 
Christian  pastor's  life,  to  consider  another,  which  is 
secondary  to  this,  though  in  our  work  indissolubly 
connected  with  it.  I  speak  of  the  effect  to  be  pro 
duced  upon  the  souls  and  the  condition  of  men  to 
whom  we  are  sent.  And  I  shall  define  this  object  to 
be,  to  bring  lost  men  to  a  living  Almighty  Saviour, 
that  they  may  find  eternal  life  in  him.  We  are  to 
persuade  their  grateful  acceptance  of  his  boundless 
grace,  that  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  they  may  be 
converted  unto  him ;  united  with  him ;  transformed 
after  his  image ;  made  partakers  of  his  fullness ; 
made  one  with  him  by  the  divine  power;  living 


30  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

upon  his  work  of  grace  and  love  for  them ;  and  bring 
ing  forth  the  fruits  of  all  goodness  to  his  glory. 

This  is  the  full  restoration  of  man  in  character  and 
condition  to  God ;  their  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
presenting  them  perfect,  in  the  fullness  of  Christ,  as 
an  all -sufficient,  unchanging  Saviour ;  clothed  by 
him  with  the  garments  of  his  salvation ;  covered 
with  the  robe  of  his  righteousness ;  and  reigning  in 
life  through  him,  by  him,  with  him  forever;  made 
thus  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  restored 
children  of  the  living  God;  renewed  in  holiness,  after 
the  image  of  him  who  hath  created  them ;  and  en 
joying  the  restored  presence  and  glory  of  a  reconcil 
ing  God  in  his  kingdom  forever. 

Thus  you  now  go  forth  upon  your  mission,  as  the 
messengers  and  ministers  of  the  Son  of  God,  to  a 
world  of  immortal  beings,  in  the  various  conditions 
of  their  human  life  and  of  their  heavenly  privileges. 

As  we  behold  the  multitudes  with  whom  we  meet, 
however  they  may  indefinitely  vary  in  the  aspects 
and  elements  of  personal  character  and  condition, 
they  present  to  our  view  but  two  distinct  classes  of 
persons.  Their  separation  may  not  be  always  per 
fectly  discriminated.  But  it  is  real  and  actual.  These 
two  classes  must  never,  in  themselves,  be  confounded 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  31 

by  us;  nor  shaded  off  on  either  side  to  a  third,  and  a 
finally  indistinguishable  class. 

WQ  meet  them,  and  we  find  them,  unaffected  by 
varied  knowledge,  talent,  or  personal  claims,  in  the 
reality  of  their  condition  by  nature  or  their  condition 
through  grace.  They  are  all  either  converted  or  un 
converted  in  their  relation  to  God.  They  are  believ 
ing  or  unbelieving  in  their  relation  to  the  appointed 
and  exalted  Saviour.  They  are  the  temples  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  dwelleth  in  them,  or  they  are  with 
out,  and  are  resisting  and  despising,  the  Spirit  of  God. 
They  are  the  children  of  God  or  the  children  of  the 
Evil 'One.  They  are  living  in  Christ  and  for  Christ, 
or  they  are  living  without  Christ. 

This  is  a  division  which,  in  its  elements  and  dis 
tinctions,  is  vital ;  and  is  unalterable  but  by  divine 
ppwer.  We  can  not  close  our  eyes  to  its  observation, 
or  in  our  minds  refuse  its  consideration.  Our  whole 
ministry  to  men,  in  all  its  details,  must  be  governed 
by  it.  To  each  and  to  every  one  of  those  to  whom, 
in  your  pastoral  work,  you  are  sent,  you  have  a  special 
message  to  bear  from  your  glorified  Lord ;  differing 
in  its  contents  and  its  application,  and  with  a  dis 
tinctly  different  purpose  in  view. 

Whether  in  your  public  or  your  private  ministry, 


32  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

you  must  keep  always  in  mind  this  vast  and  vital  dis 
tinction  among  those  to  whom  you  minister.  It  will 
regulate  your  whole  work.  It  will  guide  you  in  the 
language  of  exhortation,  of  direction,  or  of  counsel. 
You  can  not  bless  those  whom  God  has  not  blessed. 
You  can  not  refuse  those  whom  he  has  acknowl 
edged  and  received.  You  must  "  take  heed  that  you 
offend  not  one  of  his  little  ones;"  nor  "break  the 
bruised  reeds  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax." 

"With  all  these,  of  every  class,  without  reference  to 
their  personal,  transitory  distinctions,  your  object  is 
one — the  restoration  of  all  in  peace  to  God ;  the  sal 
vation  of  all  in  the  fullness  of  Christ;  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  all  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  To 
them  all,  we  cease  not  to  teach  and  to  preach  Jesus 
Christ  the  Lord:  the  living  Head,  the  heavenly  Man 
na,  which  alone  can  give  life  to  all  who  are  in  the 
world.  But  our  pastoral  application,  our  particular 
message  of  the  Word,  in  its  presentation  to  the  varied 
persons  to  whom  we  are  sent,  will  much  vary,  accord 
ing  to  our  perception  of  their  special  character  and 
condition.  To  each  must  be  given  their  special  por 
tion  in  due  season. 

I  am  perfectly  aware  that  multitudes,  and  many 
whose  apparent  character  I  am  ready  to  regard  with 


OF   A  CHRISTIAN  PASTOE.  33 

sincere  respect,  will  not  accede  to  the  precision  of  my 
statement  upon  this  subject.  I  know  that  the  minds 
of  many  in  our  time,  who  claim  a  special  intellectual 
cultivation,  may  be  disposed  to  look  with  much  con 
tempt  upon  assertions  and  judgments  which  seem 
to  them  so  completely  fanatical  and  unreasonable. 
There  is  a  vast  temptation  pressing  upon  those  who 
desire  to  gratify,  or  who  shrink  from  offending;  or 
who  indulge  themselves  in  imaginations  of  such  ad 
vancing  light  and  refinement  in  the  generations  of 
educated  men,  as  shall  overturn  and  banish  all  such 
narrow-minded  and  old-fashioned  distinctions  of  hu 
man  character  as  the  Word  of  God  has  made,  to  with 
hold  and  refuse  such  precise  and  positive  statements. 
They  would  dig  down  these  precipitous  cliffs  of  divine 
affirmation.  They  would  shade  off  these  antagonistic 
colors.  They  would  graduate  and  neutralize  these 
disagreeable  deriiands.  They  w^ould  claim  for  men 
externally  refined  a  concession  of  real  and  acceptable 
goodness,  which  may  not  belong  to  those  of  a  coarser 
nature  or  a  more  ignorant  condition. 

To  such  imaginations  or  aspirations  of  human 
pride  or  personal  vanity  you  can  yield  nothing.  You 
are  to  speak  to  all,  not  according  to  the  wisdom  of 
men,  nor  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth, 

B2 


34  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

but  according  to  the  wisdom  of  God,  in  words  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth.  The  question,  "What  is 
popular  ?  can  never  be  allowed  by  us.  Our  demand 
is,  What  is  true  ?  You  can  not  forget  that  God  often 
chooses  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
those  which  are  mighty.  And  he  will  never  fail,  in 
his  own  way,  to  prosper  the  fidelity  of  his  servants, 
or  to  honor  the  faithful  ministration  of  his  own  Word. 
You  may  meet  with  painful  rejections  of  your  mes 
sage,  and  with  great  trials  of  your  fidelity.  But  Jesus 
will  always  honor  those  who  truly  honor  him. 

A  very  upright  and  much  respected  merchant  in 
Philadelphia,  whose  wife  was  an  earnest  Christian 
woman  under  my  ministry,  and  who  was  himself  often 
at  church,  respectful  in  his  deportment  there,  and 
personally  extremely  kind  and  friendly  to  me,  was 
suddenly  brought  to  the  last  hours  of  his  life.  At 
his  wife's  request,  I  visited  him  in  his  sickness.  I 
pressed  upon  his  attention  the  Saviour's  love,  and  the 
salvation  offered  in  him  to  believing  man.  He  com 
pletely,  coldly,  almost  angrily,  rejected  my  whole  ap 
peal,  and  finally  exclaimed, "  Sir,  it  is  impossible.  God 
must  have  provided  some  better  place  than  hell  for  a 
man  of  my  respectability."  And  he  turned  from  me, 
and  would  hear  no  more. 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOR.  35 

I  was  elsewhere  called  to  the  sick-room  of  an  old 
and  respected  physician,  who  had  been  most  civil  and 
agreeable  to  me  in  social  life.  To  him  I  carried  the 
simple  message  of  the  Saviour's  love ;  the  full  salva 
tion  in  a  glorified  Christ.  lie  instantly  turned  his 
back  to  me,  with  unconcealable  displeasure.  "  I  don't 
believe  a  word  of  it,"  he  almost  screamed.  "  Shall  I 
pray  for  you  ?"  I  said.  "  You  shall  never  pray  by 
me — I  will  not  hear  you,"  he  replied.  lie  threw  the 
bedclothes  over  his  head,  and  roughly  bade  me  leave 
his  house.  And  thus  he  died. 

A  wealthy  planter  in  my  first  country  parish  had 
been  one  of  my  chief  supporters  and  friends.  I  had 
often  pressed  upon  him  this  precious  message  of  the 
Gospel,  but  in  vain.  At  midnight,  I  was  sent  for  to 
visit  him  as  dying.  As  I  came  into  his  room,  he 
turned  to  me,  with  the  utmost  affection  in  his  manner, 
but  with  an  expression  of  real  distress,  and  exclaimed, 
"Oh,  my  dear  friend,  I  did  not  think  it  would  come 
so  soon."  I  tried  to  present  to  him  still  the  pardoning 
love  of  Jesus.  I  knelt  by  his  side  and  prayed.  But 
his  last  words,  often  repeated,  were, "  Oh,  it  is  too  late. 
I  did  not  think  it  would  come  so  soon." 

We  are  not  always  received,  but  we  are  not  al 
ways  rejected,  in  our  personal  efforts  to  save  the  souls 


36  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

of  men.  A  very  distinguished  man  and  merchant  of 
Boston,  whose  name  is  still  here  venerated  in  his  pos 
terity,  and  who  was  well  known  to  me  in  our  family 
relations,  but  whom  I  had  not  seen  since  I  was  a  youth 
in  a  counting-house  with  which  he  was  connected, 
met  me  many  years  ago  in  the  parlor  of  a  hotel  at 
one  of  the  Virginia  Springs. 

I  addressed  the  few  visitors  and  the  families  on  the 
Sabbath  morning  from  the  words  of  the  Apostle, 
"Let  us  go  forth  to  him  without  the  camp,  bearing 
his  reproach."  This  gentleman  was  a  man  of  unsur 
passed  aspect  and  influence  and  position  in  society. 
But  he  was  one  of  the  very  men  whom  I  should  have 
expected  to  be  most  likely  to  be  offended  with  the 
earnestness  of  my  exhortation.  During  the  address 
he  wept  in  tender  emotion,  and  at  the  close  he  came 
up  and  took  my  hands  in  his  and  said, "  What  a  joy 
it  is  to  hear  you  preach  such  a  Gospel.  Every  word 
went  to  my  heart."  But  I  was  then  very  young  in 
my  work,  and  he  was  a  man  of  age  and  great  dignity 
in  life. 

Another  very  distinguished  citizen  of  Boston,  a 
high  military  officer  in  the  state,  was  in  my  church 
in  New  York  on  the  Sabbath.  Preaching  on  the  im 
portance  of  simplicity  in  our  message  from  Jesus,  I 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  37 

said  as  an  illustration, "  We  must  surround  the  walls 
of  Jericho  again  and  again,  and  blow  this  trumpet  of 
the  Lord,  until  the  walls  shall  fall."  I  knew  this 
gentleman  well,  and  I  saw  him  much  moved  as  I 
was  speaking.  He  came  up  to  me  when  the  service 
was  over,  and  shaking  my  hand  most  earnestly,  he 
said,  while  shedding  tears,  "  My  dear  friend,  I  bless 
God,  the  walls  of  Jericho  have  fallen  flat.  What  a 
glorious  message  this  Gospel  brings." 

Now,  my  young  friends,  with  this  heavenly  mes 
sage  you  are  charged.  It  belongs  to  all.  It  is  divine 
ly  arranged  for  all.  All  have  the  right  to  demand 
it,  always  and  in  all  places,  from  those  who  are  sent 
to  preach  it.  It  must  be  divinely  applied  to  all.  It 
is  a  simple  message  from  God,  whose  ambassadors 
you  are.  Nothing  in  it  is  left  to  man's  invention. 
When  it  shall  prosper,  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  de 
cide.  The  power  is  of  God  alone,  by  his  own  accom 
panying  Spirit  of  Grace  and  Truth.  If  you  are  made 
the  blessed  instruments  to  bring  men  to  Christ,  to 

O  * 

edify  believing  men  in  Christ,  to  glorify  an  exalted 
Lord  in  their  salvation — their  walk  in  newness,  holi 
ness,  usefulness,  beneficence  of  life — the  work  is  whol 
ly  his ;  and  the  glory  will  be  his  forever. 

I  pray  you  never  to  forget  that  our  success  in  this 


38  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

work  is  not  from  the  wisdom,  the  power,  the  elo 
quence,  the  magnetism,  as  it  has  been  called,  of  par 
ticular  men.  It  is  wholly  from  the  presence  and 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  all  truly  successful 
men,  it  is  the  power  of  prayer — the  power  of  humble, 
self-renouncing  faith — the  power  of  a  close,  patient, 
loving  walk  with  Jesus.  This  is  the  power  which 
will  always  attend  the  faithful,  simple  preaching  and 
teaching  of  a  crucified  and  living  Saviour — "  an  his- 

O  O 

toric  Christ,"  as  some  have  profanely  called  him ;  of 
the  work  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  personally 
done  and  personally  completed ;  and  the  fullness  of 
the  merit  and  the  power  of  which  dwells  in  him 
alone. 

We  do  not  preach,  as  this  work  of  salvation  for 
man,  the  work  which  a  ruling  Saviour  may  do  suc 
cessively,  accretively,  as  the  race  and  the  ages  go  by 
— the  fruits  of  his  divine  dominion.  But  the  work 
which  he  has  once  already  done,  never  to  be  repeated ; 
and  the  reality  of  which  is  increasingly  demonstrated 
by  its  living  power  to  bless  all  who  believe  it,  accept 
it,  trust  it,  rejoice  in  it,  and  thankfully  look  back  to 
it  as  the  one  unchanging  fountain  from  which  must 
flow  all  the  streams  of  that  river  which  makes  glad 
the  city  of  our  God. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  39 

This,  my  dear  young  friends,  is  your  pastoral  work, 
in  its  exalted  OBJECT.  It  is  to  glorify  the  name  and 
the  work  of  Jesus ;  to  lead  all  men  to  embrace  the 
fullness  of  his  love  and  power ;  to  build  up  all  in  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  his  grace ;  to  prepare  all  for 
the  fullness  of  his  glory;  to  make  ready  a  people 
prepared  for  the  Lord. 

Let  me  press  upon  you  this  threefold  object,  in 
your  own  personal  work  for  Christ.  Let  this  glorify 
ing  of  Jesus  be  the  Sun  which  lights  your  public 
preaching ;  the  outspreading  light  which  makes  clear, 
attractive,  and  effectual  your  private  ministrations; 
the  dawn  of  the  morning  in  the  cheerful  opening  of 
your  life-work  for  a  beloved  Saviour;  the  glowing 
beauty  and  radiance  in  the  Occident  of  your  day  com 
pleted.  Make  this,  keep  it,  the  calm  twilight  of  your 
old  age,  apparently  retiring,  but  only  to  reappear  in  a 
higher  glory  for  a  nobler  day ;  when  Jesus  shall  be 
ALL  for  you,  in  a  heavenly  rest,  as  he  has  been  your 
ALL  in  your  earthly  work  of  thankfulness,  confidence, 
holiness,  and  love. 


4:0  THE   OFFICE    AND    DUTY 


LECTURE  II. 

September   3O,  1873. 


MY  young  friends,  I  have  attempted,  in  my  previous 
lecture,  to  consider  with  you  the  twofold  OBJECT  of  a 
Christian  pastor.  Every  experiment  in  which  we 
shall  unite,  in  speaking  or  in  hearing,  will  deepen 
your  impression  and  enlarge  your  conception  of  the 
extent  and  importance  of  the  subjects  which  wre  treat, 
and  of  the  office  for  which  you  desire  to  be  prepared. 
You  will  find  it  quite  impossible  for  me,  in  a  few 
lectures  like  these,  to  do  more  than  to  offer  to  you  a 
general  guidance  and  some  friendly  fraternal  sug 
gestions  for  the  anticipation  of  such  a  work.  "With 
the  sincere  desire  to  do  this  in  an  edifying  and  ac 
ceptable  manner,  I  shall  proceed  to  our  second  sub 
ject  proposed :  the  necessary  QUALIFICATIONS  for  the 
work  of  a  pastor  so  employed. 

As  you  associate  with  your  fellow-men  in  the  duties 
of  a  pastor's  life,  you  find  them  arrayed  in  two  classes, 
perfectly  distinct,  and  to  be  accurately  discriminated 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOR.  41 

in  your  personal  relations  to  them.  They  are  UNCON 
VERTED,  perishing  in  unpardoned  guilt,  to  be  brought 
to  Jesus  by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  their  soul's  life; 
or  they  are  CONVERTED,  living  really  in  Christ,  to  be 
edified  and  instructed  in  the  full  knowledge  of  his 
salvation,  and  enjoyment  of  his  favor  and  presence. 
And  now  we  ask,  What  are  the  qualifications  whicli 
a  Christian  pastor  requires  for  a  work  so  delicate  and 
so  important  as  this  ?  What  is  he  ?  What  ought  he 
to  be  ?  And  I  answer,  he  needs : 

I.  A  real  humanity,  with  all  the  consciousness  and 
sympathies  of  man.  It  is  quite  remarkable  how  the 
first  apostles  for  the  Lord  insist  upon  this  entire  hu 
manity  of  their  ministry.  In  all  their  work,  this  must 
be  considered  and  must  not  be  forgotten.  "  Stand 
up,"  said  Peter  to  the  bending  centurion ;  "  I  myself 
also  am  a  man."  "  We  are  also  men  of  like  passions 
with  you,"  said  Paul  to  the  men  of  Lystra.  "  Who 
is  Paul  ?  who  is  Apollos  ?  but  ministers,  even  as  the 
Lord  gave  to  every  man."  "We  have  this  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels ;  the  excellency  of  the  power  is  of 
God."  It  is  made  the  definition  of  a  true  minister  of 
Christ,  and  the  reason  of  his  selection,  that  "  he  is 
compassed  about  with  infirmities,  that  he  may  have 
compassion  on  the  ignorant,  and  on  them  that  are  out 


42  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

of  the  way."  This  is  the  divine  pleasure  that  by  the 
mouth  of  sinful  men  this  great  message  should  be 
ministered  to  a  world  that  is  to  be  saved. 

This  humanity  of  the  ministry  makes  an  important 
element  of  its  power  and  of  its  usefulness.  When 
its  trials  beset  us ;  when  its  responsibilities  overwhelm 
us;  when  its  apparent  failures  disappoint  us;  and  our 
hearts  are  sad  and  anxious  in  this  survey,  we  must 
look  at  the  fruits  of  this,  experience.  We  must  not 
forget  that  of  our  glorious  Lord  it  is  said, "  Because 
the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he 
also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same." 

The  whole  work  and  provisions  of  the  Gospel  are 
addressed  to  the  weakness,  the  necessities,  the  expe 
rience  of  our  humanity.  Thus  all  is  plain.  The 
Saviour's  love  for  sinners  led  him  to  partake  of  their 
infirmities.  And  in  our  ministering  the  knowledge 
of  this  love  to  our  fellow-men,  all  our  own  humanity 
is  demanded.  We  must  enter  into  the  sorrows  which 
we  would  assuage  and  heal.  We  must  taste  of  the 
infirmities  which  we  are  called  to  alleviate  and  sus 
tain. 

This  is  by  no  means  a  light  aspect  of  our  work,  or 
of  the  demands  which  it  will  make  upon  us.  It  oft 
en  taxes  our  highest  powers;  demands  our  utmost 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  43 

patience  and  skill ;  exhausts  all  that  we  can  know  or 
do;  employs  our  deepest  consciousness  of  personal 
sinf  ulness;  and  compels  us  to  renew  the  remembrance 
of  the  guilt  and  danger  which  we  have  oursel\7es 
tasted  and  felt.  The  conscious  bitterness  of  our  own 
unbelief;  the  sorrows  of  our  perverse  alienation  from 
God,  and  rebellion  against  him,  are  made  the  strange 
instruments  of  comfort  to  others.  And  we  are  con 
stantly  teaching  and  encouraging  the  weak,  the  weary, 
and  the  desponding,  from  the  sad  recollection  of  our 
own  wanderings  and  falls,  as  earthen  and  broken  ves 
sels.  How  sweetly  the  Lord  intimates  this  thought 
to  Peter:  "I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith 
fail  not.  When  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy 
brethren." 

We  never  get  deeper  convictions  of  personal  sin 
than  in  our  attempts  to  console  and  guide  others  in 
their  hours  of  darkness  and  guilt.  We  are  never 
more  truly  or  effectually  made  the  "  sons  of  consola 
tion"  to  them  than  when  we  are  secretly  weeping, 
in  the  bitterness  of  our  own  souls,  over  past  personal 
transgressions,  of  which  they  have  no  consciousness 
or  knowledge ;  "  comforting  others  by  the  consola 
tions  wherewith  we  are  comforted  of  God."  How 
Paul  recalled  the  bitter  cruelty  of  his  own  career, 


44  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

when  lie  was  pouring  out  his  mortal  life  for  the  glory 
of  his  Lord  and  the  defense  and  guidance  of  his  peo 
ple.  How  often  in  the  history  of  the  Church  the 
A7ilest  of  men,  like  Augustine  and  John  Newton,  have 
been  called  to  the  widest,  deepest,  and  most  experi 
mental  consolation  and  instruction  of  the  people  of 
God. 

You  have  thus  to  go  out  upon  your  life-work  as 
pastors  in  the  flock  of  the  Great  Shepherd,  with  a 
constant  reminding,  and  with  a  deepening  humilia 
tion  under  this  growing  consciousness,  that  in  the 
very  experience  of  your  humanity  you  are  prepared 
to  be  the  comforters  of  those  who  find  no  other  friend. 
You  need  not  describe  the  errors  and  follies  of  your 
life  past.  But  if  you  have  tasted  the  bitterness  of 
death;  if  you  have  been  with  Jonah  in  the  deep,  with 
the  weeds  of  death  wrapped  around  your  head;  if 
you  have  been  consciously  in  your  spiritual  state  once 
dead,  and  then  made  alive  again  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  very  sorrows  and  sins  of  your 
human  history  have  been  a  gracious  preparation,  un 
der  the  amazing  goodness  of  God,  for  your  deeper 
and  wider  ability  to  comprehend  and  to  meet  the  sor 
rows  which  others  bear,  and  the  sins  with  which  they 
are  laden.  This  ability  is  one  effective  element  in 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOK.  45 

the  usefulness  of  jour  pastoral  life.  You  know  and 
feel  and  understand  all  the  difficulties,  trials,  weak 
nesses,  and  sins  which  others  meet  in  striving  to  gain 
their  foothold  firm  on  the  rock  of  God's  salvation. 

II.  The  Christian  pastor  must  be  a  CONVERTED  man. 
His  important  work  can  not  be  accomplished  by  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  man  in  the  mere  force  of  his 
own  intellect,  or  by  his  own  knowledge  of  the  ameni 
ties  and  advantages  of  a  mere  virtuous  life.  lie  goes 
out  to  gather  and  to  feed  the  flock  which  Jesus  has 
purchased  by  his  own  blood.  To  suppose  an  uncon 
verted  man  divinely  called  to  this  important  work,  is 
to  suppose  a  wolf  intrusted  with  the  sheep  by  an  in 
fallible  Shepherd — an  evil  against  which  the  Saviour 
most  earnestly  warns.  "  Ravening  wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing,"  he  calls  them.  That  a  man  unconverted 
should  be  called  in  that  state  to  minister  the  Gospel 
of  the  Son  of  God  by  the  Lord  himself,  must  be  es 
teemed  an  impossible  thing.  The  experience  of  a 
converted  man  is  essential  to  the  pastoral  work.  The 
whole  work  depends  upon  personal  qualifications. 
The  guidance  which  is  to  be  given  calls  for  a  personal 
knowledge.  On  no  other  basis  can  the  pastor  suc 
ceed.  A  man  may  be  converted  after  he  has  entered 
upon  the  ministry.  But  he  can  not  be  a  true  minister 


46  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

of  Christ  until  he  is  converted.  To  confer  with  an 
awakened,  anxious  mind,  or  with  a  sick  and  suffering 
soul,  in  the  mere  formalisms  of  an  outward  Christian 
ity,  is  a  fearful  assumption.  The  man  who  is  alive  to 
God  will  know  how  to  point  out  the  way  to  others. 
lie  is  at  home  in  this  great  crisis  of  immortal  life. 
He  speaks  the  things  which  he  knows.  And  the 
Spirit  of  God  guides  him  and  follows  him  with  his 
new  creating  power. 

Sometimes  the  directions  which  are  required  will 
be  very  peculiar  in  appearance.  I  will  illustrate  this 
by  an  incident  which  gave  me  much  encouragement 
in  my  early  ministry. 

At  an  inquiry  meeting  which  I  held  in  Philadel 
phia,  where  more  than  fifty  persons  were  assembled, 
I  marked  a  young  man,  well  dressed,  but  with  a  flashy 
air,  which  awakened  some  suspicion  of  his  sincerity, 
and  I  left  him  until  the  last,  when  we  were  left  alone 
in  the  room.  "For  what  purpose  did  you  come 
here  ?"  I  said.  "  To  find  salvation  for  my  soul,"  he 
replied.  "Are  you  really  sincere  in  this?"  I  said. 
"  Perfectly  sincere,"  was  his  reply.  It  was  late  in 
the  evening;  I  said, "Will  you  meet  me  in  my  study 
to-morrow  evening  at  eight  o'clock  ?"  "  I  will,"  he 
said.  At  the  appointed  hour  I  wras  waiting,  and  he 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  47 

came.  lie  gave  me  the  history  of  a  wild  and  self- 
indulgent  life ;  of  a  faithful  Christian  wife,  slighted 
in  a  refusal  of  her  expostulations,  and  distressed  by  his 
wanderings.  I  opened  to  him  the  way  of  salvation, 
and  urs;ed  him  to  embrace  it.  But  he  declined  to 

O 

take  any  religious  stand,  though  apparently  sincere 
in  his  anxiety  and  desire — withheld  apparently  by 
the  opposition  of  his  own  pride.  After  an  adequate 
conversation  and  prayer,  I  said  to  him, "  If  you  are 
really  sincere  in  the  wish  you  express,  are  you  ready 
to  go  home  and  say  to  your  wife,  '  I  have  lived  a 
sinful  life  long  enough ;  I  am  determined  from  this 
hour  to  give  up  this  life  of  sin,  and  live  for  Christ 
alone ;'  and  kneel  with  her,  and  pray  for  the  Lord's 
blessing  and  acceptance  ?"  He  was  silent  for  a  while, 
and  then  replied,  "  No,  I  can  not."  "  Then,"  said  I, 
"  I  have  nothing  more  to  say."  And  I  took  up  the 
book  wrhich  I  had  been  reading.  Three  successive 
times  I  said  to  him  again, "  Are  you  ready  now  to  do 
this  ?"  At  last  I  heard  him  draw  a  heavy  sigh,  and 
saw  his  eyes  glistening  with  tears.  "Will  you  go 
now  ?"  I  said.  "  I  will,"  he  replied,  and  rushed  by 
me  and  departed.  I  had  never  seen  the  young  man 
before.  The  next  evening  was  one  of  my  weekly 
lectures.  As  I  stood  in  the  desk,  I  saw  this  young 


43  THE    OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

man  come  in,  with  a  young  woman  leaning  on  his 
arm,  whom  I  had  often  seen  there  alone  weeping :  a 
woman  of  a  sorrowful  spirit.  They  came  forward  to 
the  front  bench  before  me,  and  knelt  together  on  the 
floor.  When"  the  service  was  over,  I  approached  them 
and  said,  "  Is  this  your  wife  ?"  lie  answered,  "  Yes." 
I  turned  to  her  and  said,  "  This  young  man  promised 
me  last  night  that  he  would  go  home  to  yon,  and  say 
that  he  was  determined  to  live  for  Christ,  and  kneel 
and  pray  with  you.  Did  he  do  it  ?"  "  He  did,"  said 
she.  "And  how  do  yon  feel  to-night  ?"  I  said  to  him. 
"  Oh,  sir,  I  am  the  happiest  man  in  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia."  That  young  man  lived  to  adorn  his  Chris 
tian  stand  in  a  useful  life  ;  and  after  a  lingering  con 
sumption  was  called  to  die.  The  last  time  I  was  at 
his  bedside,  I  said, "  William,  do  you  remember  the 
evening  you  were  in  my  study  ?"  "  Remember  it !" 
said  he,  raising  his  wasted  hands  and  arms  to  his  ut 
most  reach,  "  Oh,  I  shall  never  forget  it  through  all 
eternity.  It  was  the  birthday  of  my  soul." 

This  interesting  illustration  is  by  no  means  singular. 
You  will  often  find  a  truly  converted  ministry  for 
Christ  thus  rewarded.  But  to  be  useful  ambassadors 
for  him,  you  must  really  understand  what  conversion 
is,  and  ask  and  expect  the  blessing  from  his  gift.  To 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  49 

be  a  (Averting  minister,  your  pastor's  life  must  be 
a  converted  ministry. 

Let  me  present  you  another  illustration. 

Some  years  since  I  was  sent  for  to  visit  some  stran 
gers  at  a  hotel  in  New  York.  They  were  a  widow 
lady,  whom  I  had  known  in  South  Carolina,  and  her 
son,  a  young  man,  who  was  very  ill.  I  learned  from 
her  that  a  clergyman  whom  I  knew  had  visited  him, 
but  had  no  conversation  with  him.  From  this  gen 
tleman  I  received  the  statement  that  he  found  the 
young  man  so  much  excited  and  talking  so  strangely 
that  it  was  impossible  to  hold  any  conversation  with 
him,  and  he  therefore  only  said  a  prayer  at  his  side 
and  left  him. 

I  was  introduced  to  the  chamber  of  the  young  man. 
Upon  a  cot  in  the  middle  of  the  room  lay  a  singular 
ly  interesting  youth,  perhaps  twenty  years  of  age. 
Beside  him  sat  a  female  cousin,  a  young  lady  about 
his  own  age.  His  mother  said,  "  Julian,  this  is  Dr. 
Tyng."  He  fixed  his  earnest  black  eyes  upon  me, 
and  stretched  forth  both  of  his  hands  to  me  and  said, 
in  the  most  beseeching  tones,  "  Dear  Dr.  Tyng,  my 
mother  has  often  told  me  about  you.  I  am  very  sick, 
and  must  die.  My  mother  has  always  told  me  I 
must  be  converted.  I  must  be  converted.  I  am  not 

0 


50  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

converted.  Oh, how  can  I  be  converted?"  These 
earnest  expressions  he  repeated  several  times.  I  told 
him  simply  of  the  love  and  fullness  of  Jesus ;  of  the 
open  way  of  salvation,  in  loving  and  trusting  him ; 
that  real  love  and  faith  toward  Jesus  was  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  was  conversion.  His  counte 
nance  was  the  very  impression  of  anxiety  and  ear 
nestness.  I  prayed  with  him  for  the  Saviour's  own 
teaching  and  acceptance,  and  left  him.  The  next 
day  I  called  again.  lie  was  lying  as  I  had  seen 
him  before,  apparently  in  repose.  His  countenance 
was  the  emblem  of  perfect  peace.  He  awoke  and 
welcomed  me  with  the  sweetest,  loving  smile,  and 
said, "  Oh,  dear  Dr.  Tyng,  I  understand  it  now.  Jesus 
has  forgiven  me  all.  And  I  truly  love  him.  And 
the  love  of  Jesus  is  conversion.  How  sweet  and 
precious  it  is.  Dear  mother,  I  am  converted.  Am  I 
not  converted  f 

This  was  the  peaceful,  heavenly  state  of  his  mind 
for  some  days ;  and  in  this  he  departed,  happy  and 
at  rest.  His  young  relative,  who  was  with  him,  was 
converted  by  the  gracious  influence  of  this  occasion, 
and  became  a  very  valuable  servant  of  the  Lord. 
His  brother,  who  was  also  there,  a  young  physician, 
despised  it  all,  and  avowed  himself  to  me  an  Atheist. 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  51 

I  present  you  these  illustrations  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  honor  a  ministry  which 
strives  to  honor  him.  This  whole  point  of  a  truly 
converted  ministry  I  wish  to  impress  upon  you.  The 
pastoral  ministry  requires  all  the  sympathy  of  a  con 
verted  man.  The  whole  efficacy  of  its  work  is  de 
pendent  on  this.  In  vain  will  you  attempt  to  deal 
with  awakened,  convicted,  inquiring,  anxious  minds 
without  the  experience  and  tenderness  which  really  is 
in  Christ.  The  ministry  demands  the  example  of  a 
converted  man.  One  great  purpose  in  the  human  min 
istry  is  in  the  pattern  which  its  truly  sanctified  char 
acter  presents ;  so  that  it  can  say, "  Be  ye  followers  of 
me,  even  as  I  am  of  Christ."  Others  will  follow  us,  if 
we  truly  follow  Jesus.  The  ministry  demands  the  mo 
tives  of  a  converted  man.  Its  trials  in  a  faithful  pas 
tor's  life  are  peculiar,  unending  in  time.  Oar  difii- 
culties  and  our  warfare  change,  but  they  never  end 
till  life  itself  must  end.  All  shams  and  pretenses 
will  die  under  this  pressure.  Nothing  but  the  love 
of  the  converted  heart  for  Jesus,  and  for  the  souls 
of  men  for  whom  he  died,  will  keep  the  heart  up  to 
the  work.  Every  motive  will  perish,  but  a  real,  liv 
ing  faith  in  a  Saviour,  known  and  loved  and  chosen, 
as  our  only  portion  and  our  only  subject, 


52  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

III.  The  Christian  pastor  must  be  a  man  called  of 
God.  I  can  not  go  with  you  into  a  didactic  exposi 
tion  of  a  divine  call  to  the  ministry  in  these  simple, 
practical  lectures.  It  is  the  infallible  testimony  of 
the  Word  of  God,  "  JSTo  man  taketh  this  honor  unto 
himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of  God."  And  it  must 
be  to  you  a  most  important  and  impressive  subject 
for  personal  examination  and  thought.  "  How  shall 
they  preach  except  they  be  sent  ?" 

Such  a  call  to  the  ministry  is  the  subject  of  per 
sonal,  individual  experience.  Paul  says,  "  It  pleased 
God  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach 
him  among  the  heathen."  In  all  its  aspects,  this 
divine  call  is  a  transaction  between  the  soul  and  its 
Redeemer.  It  gains  its  interpretation  from  the  sacred 
Scriptures  of  his  inspiration,  and  the  .man  himself 
must  feel  it  and  know  it. 

It  can  be  nothing  less  than  a  deep  and  solemn 
conviction  and  constraint  of  personal  obligation. 
"  Woe  is  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel."  You  can 
never  safely  look  upon  the  ministry  as  a  profession, 
the  entrance  to  which  is  spontaneous  and  subject  to 
choice.  It  is  a  dispensation,  an  "  Oikonomia,"  a  law 
of  the  household  of  God ;  rising  above  the  mere  ac 
knowledgment  of  duty,  to  an  experience  of  the  con- 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN   PASTOE.  53 

straining  love  of  Christ;  to  an  appreciation  of  the 
infinite  value  of  the  Gospel,  which  we  have  been 
taught  by  his  own  Spirit  and  power,  and  the  joy  and 
hope  of  which  we  have  truly  and  clearly  received. 

This  sense  of  obligation  to  Jesus,  to  the  souls  of 
perishing  men,  is  absolute  and  constraining.  His 
precious  Gospel  has  given  life  to  our  souls.  This  is 
the  life  by  which  we  really  live.  We  know  its  power ; 
we  feel  its  truth ;  we  comprehend  its  worth ;  we  must 
preach  it  to  our  fellow-men.  Its  unsearchable  riches 
of  grace  we  must  and  will  proclaim,  whatever  it  may 
cost;  whatever  it  may  bring  of  earthly  care  or  of 
earthly  trial. 

The  pastoral  ministry  can  be  effective  only  with 
such  a  call  from  God.  What  I  mean,  I  will  take  the 
liberty  to  illustrate  by  a  short  statement  of  my  own 
experience  in  connection  with  it;  not  as  a  rule  for 
others,  but  as  partly  the  source  of  my  own  conviction. 

After  being  graduated  at  Harvard  University,  I 
was  for  two  years  in  a  large  East  India  counting- 
house  on  India  Wharf,  in  Boston.  I  lived  a  formally 
moral  life,  though  with  no  real  knowledge  of  a  Sav 
iour,  nor  having  any  pastoral  ministry  over  me  which 
could  instruct  me  in  his  truth.  My  earthly  engage 
ments  and  prospects,  in  the  engagements  which  I  had 


54:  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

made,  were  considered  by  my  friends  very  brilliant 
and  secure.  I  was  wholly  devoted  to  the  demands 
and  prosperity  of  my  worldly  plans,  and  I  had  no 
want  beyond  them. 

I  awoke  in  the  early  morning  of  the  19th  of  July, 
1819,  with  a  voice  which  seemed  to  sound  in  my  ear, 
with  the  solemn  appeal,  "What  a  wasteful  life  you 
are  leading!"  I  answered  in  my  silent  conscience 
and  heart, "  I  will  live  so  no  longer."  I  immediately 
arose  from  my  bed,  and,  without  dressing,  knelt  upon 
the  floor,  and  gave  myself  in  my  poor  way  to  a  Lord 
whom  I  did  not  know,  but  by  whose  voice  I  fully 
believed  I  was  called.  I  went  down  as  usual  to  my 
business.  But  my  whole  mind  and  purposes  and 
plans  were  changed.  The  world  of  wealth  had  passed 
out  of  my  view.  A  load  of  sin  pressed  upon  my 
heart.  But  I  knew  no  outward  instructor  who  could 
comprehend  my  wants  or  guide  my  way.  Thus  I 
groped  for  days,  without  one  earthly  comforter. 

Nearly  opposite  the  head  of  this  street  in  which 
we  are  assembled,  adjoining  the  Trernont  House,  you 
may  see  a  small  quadrant  spot  of  grass  ..inclosed.  It 
is  all  that  remains  of  a  large  and  beautiful  yard, 
which  wras  then  the  residence  of  Mr.  Adam  Babcock, 
one  of  the  leading  men  of  Boston  in  that  day.  The 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  5o 

whole  residue  of  the  property  lias  been  incorporated 
in  the  site  of  the  hotel.  In  that  court-yard  dwelt  a 
retired  nurse,  long  in  the  family,  in  rooms  prepared 
for  her.  She  was  a  venerated  Christian  woman,  who 
was  familiarly  called  by  all  the  branches  of  the  fam 
ily  Aunt  Minott.  Some  of  my  young  female  con 
nections  told  her  the  strange  news  that  "  Stephen 
Tyng  was  out  of  his  head  in  thinking  and  talking 
about  religion."  The  old  lady  sent  a  message  desir 
ing  to  see  me.  She  was  a  Methodist.  The  family, 
like  myself,  had  always  been  in  the  congregation  of 
Trinity  Church.  Her  Christian  home  was  "Brorn- 
field  Lane  Methodist  Chapel."  That  old  lady  was 
the  first  Christian  friend  I  found  who  knew  a  Sav 
iour's  love,  understood  a  Saviour's  Gospel,  and  could 
enter  into  my  heart,  having  received  this  Gospel  nei 
ther  by  man  nor  from  man.  With  her  I  could  talk 
of  Jesus,  and  not  be  deemed  insane. 

A  single  month  passed  before,  under  the  pressure 
and  guidance  of  that  Spirit  by  whom  I  had  been 
called,  I  left  all  the  business  of  earth  and  gave  my 
self  simply  and  wholly  to  my  Saviour's  work.  I  was 
considered  insane  by  many,  in  a  world  which  looked 
only  to  its  own  things.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many 
of  my  friends  really  lamented  over  me  as  insane. 


56  THE   OFFICE   AND  DUTY 

But  whether  I  was  beside  myself,  it  was  to  God.  I 
gave  up  all  the  prospect  of  wealth  before  me,  and  de 
termined  to  preach  my  Saviour's  Gospel.  My  dear 
father,  with  whom  I  lived,  replied  to  my  proposal  of 
this  change:  "Are  you  crazy?  You  are  throwing 
away  the  most  brilliant  prospects  of  any  young  man 
in  Boston."  I  answered :  "  I  was  never  more  sane  in 
my  life,  sir.  I  can  not  help  it.  I  know  that  I  am 
called  to  preach  the  Gospel.  I  know  that  there  is 
some  place  between  here  and  the  Rocky  Mountains 
for  me  to  preach  my  Saviour's  love.  I  am  going  un 
til  I  find  it."  The  venerated  man  was  overwhelmed. 
"  "Well,"  said  he, "  you  will  spoil  a  first-rate  merchant 
to  make  a  very  poor  parson."  "  It  may  be  so,  sir ; 
but  I  must  go."  He  was  spared  to  me  for  ten  years 
after  that  interview,  to  value  most  highly  my  poor 
attempts,  to  encourage  with  the  utmost  affection  my 
efforts  in  the  Saviour's  cause,  and  to  gain  part  of  his 
consolation  in  death  from  my  grateful  ministry. 
This  was  "  my  manner  of  entering  in." 

I  sincerely,  deeply  felt  that  I  wras  called  to  preach 
this  precious  Gospel.  More  than  fifty-four  years  have 
since  passed  by,  and  I  can  not  say  that  I  have  ever 
had  one  doubt  of  the  Gospel  which  I  preach,  or  of 
the  fact  that  I  have  been  called  of  God  to  preach  it. 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  57 

With  great  self-abasement,  but  with  entire  confi 
dence,  I  can  truly  adopt  the  language  of  St.  Paul : 
"  When  it  pleased  God,  who  separated  me  from  my 
mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace  to  reveal 
his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  HIM,  immediately 
I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood." 

I  really  do  not  speak  of  this  in  vain  boasting,  but 
humbly  to  illustrate  what  I  understand  and  mean 
when  I  say  to  be  an  effective  Christian  pastor  you 
must  be  "  called  of  God."  You  must  be  taught  the 
way  by  a  heavenly  power,  and  willingly  go  where 
his  Providence  shall  send  you,  spending  and  being 
spent,  publicly  and  from  house  to  house,  that  you  may 
bring  sinners  to  the  knowledge  of  a  Saviour's  love, 
and  build  up  his  saints  in  their  most  holy  faith ;  by 
his  grace  preventing  you,  going  before  you,  giving 
you  the  good-will,  and  working  with  you  in  carrying 
out  that  will  to  good  effect. 

Thus  qualified  by  the  sympathies  of  a  loving  man 
hood — by  the  new  creating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
truly  converted — by  a  conscious,  satisfying  call  from 
Christ  your  Lord  to  your  important  work — you  may 
become  thus  far  prepared  to  be  effective,  faithful 
Christian  pastors  for  the  flock  of  Christ. 

IV.  The  Christian  pastor  must  be  a  man  of  a  sym- 
C2 


58  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

pathizing  nature  and  habit.  It  is  impossible  to  im 
agine  a  hard  man — a  censorious,  fault-finding  man — 
a  man  fretful,  easily  annoyed — a  man  taking  gloomy 
views  of  men  and  things,  of  divine  providence  and 
guidance — to  be  an  effective,  useful  pastor.  How  sim 
ply  and  tenderly  the  apostle  describes  the  office,  as  he 
had  felt  it  and  had  endeavored  to  execute  it !  "  We 
were  gentle  among  you,  even  as  a  nurse  cherisheth 
her  children.  Being  affectionately  desirous  of  you, 
we  were  willing  to  have  imparted  unto  you,  not  the 
Gospel  of  God  only,  but  also  our  own  souls,  because  ye 
were  dear  unto  us."  "  We  exhorted,  comforted,  charged 
every  one  of  you,  as  a  father  doth  his  children." 

This  is  a  temper  which  does  not  become  fatigued 
or  worried  with  the  unceasing  calls  upon  a  pastor's 
sympathy,  consideration,  and  effort.  I  think  there 
is  no  employment  on  earth  which  involves  the  same 
amount  and  variety  of  occupation  and  care.  There 
is  no  question  or  interest  of  domestic,  social,  or  per 
sonal  life  which  does  not  come  before  a  faithful  pas 
tor's  mind  and  notice,  with  some  particular  and  press 
ing  demand  in  the  prosecution  of  his  appointed  work. 
He  must  care  for  all,  plan  for  all,  bear  with  all,  and 
strive  to  "  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  by  all 
means  he  may  save  some." 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  59 

To  meet  all  these  demands  effectively,  he  must 
maintain  the  constant  life  and  power  of  religion  in 
his  own  heart ;  the  life  of  God  in  his  own  soul.  lie 
must  grow  in  an  increasing  sense  of  his  own  personal 
need.  He  will  meet  with  many  trials  of  temptation 
and  of  temper,  which  will  show  him  what  manner 
of  man  he  is,  whether  easily  provoked,  self-indulgent, 
and  unyielding,  or  whether  he  is  really  becoming 
forbearing,  patient,  disinterested,  and  gentle. 

He  must  grow  in  an  enlarging  perception  of  the 
fullness  and  blessedness  of  a  Saviour's  love.  Noth 
ing  can  sustain  him  amid  all  the  worrying  trials  of  a 
pastor's  life  but  a  deeper  work  of  this  twofold  growth 
of  true  piety ;.  the  stock  of  the  one  bearing  a  ripening 
humility,  and  the  branches  of  the  other  blooming 
and  waving  with  a  higher,  brighter,  more  abiding 
and  precious  hope. 

All  acceptable  ministry  rests  upon  this  twofold  ex 
perience.  We  can  not  effectively,  privately  teach  be 
yond  the  line  of  our  own  personal  attainments  and 
real  sympathy  of  feeling.  When  we  get  beyond  that 
which  we  have  felt  and  seen,  I  will  by  no  means 
say  that  all  our  teaching  is  false  and  a  sham,  because 
it  may  be  perfectly  sincere  in  its  motive  and  desire. 
But  it  is  a  mere  lecture  from  second-hand  informa- 


60  THE    OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

tion.  We  are  telling  the  tilings  which  we  have  heard, 
and  of  which  we  really  know  little.  Our  own  deep 
ening  experience  of  the  need  and  power  of  the  Gospel 
is  essential  to  our  advancing  usefulness.  We  become 
the  more  qualified  to  be  the  guides,  helpers,  and  teach 
ers  of  others  as  we  suffer  and  gain  the  more  for  our 
selves. 

This  twofold  power  of  onr  ministry,  wherever  we 
may  be  in  our  pastoral  work,  depends  upon  the  reality 
of  this  growing  'sympathy.  We  sometimes  receive 
very  severe  lessons  of  peculiar  ministerial  experience, 
to  test  and  to  increase  our  forbearance  and  our  pas 
toral  strength  and  usefulness.  Among  the  many  rules 
for  a  useful  and  happy  life  in  the  ministry  •which,  my 
venerable  relative  and  teacher,  Bishop  Griswold,  gave 
me  in  my  studies  with  him,  one  was, "  Never  vindicate 
yourself."  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  ever  violated  this 
rule  in  a  single  personal  instance.  Every  pastor  will 
meet  with  some  trials  which  will  demand  and  test  it. 

In  my  first  permanent  charge,  in  the  southern  part 
of  Maryland,  there  was  one  man  of  commanding  in 
fluence  and  wealth,  from  whom  a  large  proportion 
of  my  support  had  been  derived.  Circumstances  en 
tirely  beyond  my  control  led  to  his  personal  aliena 
tion  from  me,  and  excessive  persecution  of  me.  He 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOK.  61 

publicly  defamed  me,  by  charging  me  with  lying. 
I  took  no  personal  notice  of  the  charge.  When  one 
neighbor  after  another  among  the  planters  of  a  wide 
country  parish  came  to  me  to  ask  the  truth  of  his 
statements,  I  made  but  one  reply :  "  Go,  ask  Mr.  C. 
himself."  "  But  he  has  already  said  so.  What  is  the 
use  of  going  to  him  ?"  was  the  answer.  "  Well,  if  I 
should  contradict,  I  should  simply  throw  the  charge 
of  falsehood  upon  him.  What  should  I  gain  by  that  T 
Five  years  of  that  persecution  passed,  in  which  he 
yielded  nothing.  It  cost  me  much  of  comfort  and 
peace.  I  removed  at  that  time  to  Philadelphia. 
There,  some  months  after,  I  received  a  letter  from 
my  successor,  saying,  "  Mr.  C.  is  very  ill,  and  can  not 
live.  He  begs  me  to  write  to  you  for  him,  and  ask 
your  forgiveness  before  he  dies.  He  is  filled  with 
bitter  remorse.  He  says  he  has  never  ceased  to  re 
spect  you  during  the  whole  period  of  his  persecution 
of  you,  and  that  he  can  not  die  in  peace  without  re 
ceiving  your  forgiveness."  On  the  outside  of  the  let 
ter  wTas  a  memorandum  of  the  hour  of  his  death. 
You  can  judge  the  comfort  which  I  received  from 
the  remembrance  that  I  had  never  avenged  myself, 
even  by  words,  nor  been  suffered  to  be  cast  down  by 
the  distress  of  the  persecution. 


62  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Thus  in  our  own  suffering  we  are  made  to  under 
stand  the  sympathy  of  personal  endurance.  But,  be 
yond  this,  there  will  be  an  active  sympathy  demand 
ed  from  you  in  every  variety  of  human  woe.  Xo 
class  or  station  of  those  to  whom  you  minister  will 
be  found  released  from  burdens  or  sorrow.  The 
troubles  may  often  be  imaginary  in  their  source ;  but 
the  sorrow  and  the  suffering  are  always  real.  You 
must  not  only  appear  to  sympathize,  but  your  heart 
must  really  go  out,  "  weeping  with  those  who  weep, 
and  rejoicing  with  those  who  do  rejoice." 

The  widow  and  the  fatherless,  the  poor  and  the 
neglected,  the  downcast  and  the  forgotten,  the  sick 
and  the  sorrowing ;  those  for  whom  no  other  man  will 
care,  and  whom  no  other  man  will  help ;  the  convict 
ed,  the  persecuted,  and  the  sinning,  are  all  the  por 
tion  of  your  inheritance,  and  you  must  sympathize 
with  all. 

If  you  have  no  heart  for  all  this  line  of  outward 
demand  upon  your  time,  your  thought,  and  your  af 
fections,  the  pastor's  office  is  not  your  gift.  What 
a  perfect  description  you  have  of  what  a  successful 
pastor  really  enjoys,  and  of  what  a  faithful  pastor  re 
ally  does,  in  the  29th  chapter  of  Job.  What  can 
more  perfectly  describe  the  unfailing  sympathy  of 


OF   A   CHEISTIAN   PASTOE.  G3 

which  I  am  speaking ?  "I  delivered  the  poor  that 
cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that  had  none  to 
help  him.  The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to 
perish  came  upon  me.  I  caused  the  widow's  heart 
to  sing  for  joy.  I  wras  a  father  to  the  poor,  and  the 
cause  which  I  knew  not  I  searched  out."  The  apostle 
Paul  brings  all  the  illustrations  of  this  fine  testimony 
upon  an  evangelical  basis  of  description  and  expe 
rience  when  he  says,  "  Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not 
weak  ?  who  is  offended,  and  I  burn  not  ?  I  will  very 
gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for  you,  though  the  more 
abundantly  I  love  you  the  less  I  be  loved."  "  I  seek 
not  yours,  but  you." 

I  would  urge  you,  my  young  friends,  watch  over, 
cultivate  this  spirit  of  coterminous  sympathy  with  the 
sufferings  and  the  sorrows  of  all  whom  the  Lord  shall 

CD 

commit  to  your  charge,  and  so  illustrate  the  mind 
and  fulfill  the  will  of  Christ,  your  Great  Example 
and  Lord. 

Y.  Besides  all  these,  and  through  them  all,  the  true 
CIIEISTIAN  PASTOE  must  be  a  patient  man ;  enduring, 
in  all  long-suffering  and  patience,  the  ignorance  and 
the  infirmities  of  others.  Perhaps  I  have  seen  parish 
difficulties  arise  as  often  from  the  impatience  of  min 
isters,  as  from  the  discontent  or  the  hostility  of  the 


64:  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

people.     A  sensitive  and  weary  student  is  often  very 
little  able  to  contend  with  the  petty  annoyances  of 
local  life. 

I  knew  an  unhealable  breach  made  between  a  very 
distinguished  minister  and  a  contiguous  neighbor, 
which  ended  in  the  removal  of  the  former,  from  the 
killing  of  the  minister's  chicken  by  the  layman's  son. 
"  Behold,  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindle th." 

A  clergyman  of  some  celebrity  called  on  me  with 
this  statement :  "  I  am  in  great  difficulty  in  my 
parish;  all  the  women  have  turned  against  me." 
"Well,"  said  I,  "then  you  must  certainly  go.  No 
man  can  stand  in  a  useful  ministry  against  the  hos 
tility  of  all  the  women.  But  what  has  been  the  cause 
of  so  much  difficulty  ?"  He  replied :  "  The  organist 
in  my  church  is  a  young  lady  belonging  to  one  of  the 
best  families  in  the  parish.  Her  mother  is  the  leader 
of  the  choir.  The  choir  is  a  voluntary  one,  under 
their  direction.  They  all  serve  without  pay.  One. 
Sunday,  when  I  was  going  from  the  vestry-room  into 
the  church,  I  heard  the  organist  playing  a  very  light 
and  improper  tune,  as  a  voluntary.  I  rose  from  my 
private  prayer,  and,  turning  to  the  organist,  I  said, 
'Stop  that  music — I  will  not  have  Annie  Laurie 
played  in  my  church.'  They  were  all  so  offended 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  G5 

that  none  of  them  came  in  the  afternoon ;  and  since 
that  all  the  families  have  taken  it  up,  and  there  is  so 
much  difficulty  that  I  know  not  what  to  do."  What 
could  I  say  to  him  under  the  circumstances,  but 
"  the  sooner  you  remove  from  there,  the  better  both 
for  you  and  the  church  ?" 

A  man  who  could  so  foolishly  and  coarsely  give 
offense  could  not  have  discretion  enough  to  avoid 
offense  in  the  future.  All  mere  circumstantial  ad 
vice  would  have  been  lost  on  such  a  man.  He  re 
moved  to  another  state,  and  has  since  departed. 

An  impatient,  hasty  man  can  do  nothing  as  a  pas 
tor.  He  may  be  esteemed,  perhaps,  as  a  very  fine 
preacher,  and  be  acceptable  in  that  office  while  an 
unexamining  popularity  attends  him.  But  such  a 
man  can  do  nothing  as  a  pastor.  He  is  too  self-seek 
ing  to  be  sympathizing;  too  explosive  to  be  patient. 
He  will  find  endless  quarrels  with  vestries,  trustees, 
and  committees — with  women  and  families — until 
his  peace  has  gone,  his  reputation  has  been  destroyed, 
his  presence  is  unsought,  and  his  whole  heart  is  worn 
out.  The  best  excuse  you  will  ever  hear  of  him  is 
the  equivocal  defense,  "  The  poor  man  is  too  sensi 
tive  to  be  happy  or  useful." 

The  trials  of  patience,  of  self-possession,  for  a 


C6  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

faithful  pastor  are  sometimes  very  great.  He  is  oft 
en,  as  Jude  says,  "  pulling  men  out  of  the  fire."  As 
Paul  describes  it,  "  Fighting  with  beasts  at  Ephesus." 
But  even  in  such  a  crisis,  a  faithful,  patient,  self-pos 
sessed  pastor  will  always  succeed  at  last.  Let  me 
give  you  an  illustration  of  such  a  trial. 

A  very  fashionable  and  wealthy  family  were  pro 
fessedly  under  my  care  in  Philadelphia,  but  living 
wholly  in  the  world  and  for  the  world.  By  the  bless 
ing  of  God,  the  "Word  reached  the  hearts  of  the 
mother  and  the  eldest  daughter,  a  young  woman. 
They  were  converted.  Their  whole  manner  of  life 
was  changed.  The  ball  -  room  was  renounced ;  the 
prayer-meeting  was  adopted.  The  life  of  fashion 
gave  way  to  a  life  of  faith.  The  father  was  a  mer 
chant,  of  wealth  and  great  social  ambition ;  he  had 
delighted  much  in  the  beauty  and  style  of  his  wife 
and  daughter.  His  indignation  was  intensely  aroused 
by  their  change  of  character  and  life ;  his  anger  knew 
no  bounds.  He  watched  the  gates  of  the  church,  to 
prevent  their  attendance  by  authority  and  force. 
When  we  received  them  to  their  public  Christian 
profession,  we  were  obliged  to  admit  them  through 
the  back  window  of  the  basement  in  the  church. 

These  painful  circumstances  required  all  of  a  pas- 


OF    A   CHRISTIAN    PASTOR.  67 

tor's  wisdom  to  visit,  to  counsel,  and  to  aid  them. 
One  night,  at  a  very  late  hour,  as  I  was  retiring  to  my 
rest,  and  my  family  were  all  withdrawn,  a  sudden 
ring  of  my  door-bell  summoned  me  to  answer  the  ap 
peal.  It  was  a  servant  of  this  lady,  who  said,  "  Mrs. 
B.  wishes  you  to  come  immediately  to  her  house." 
She  could  give  me  no  further  account.  I  prepared 
myself  to  go,  telling  my  wife  whither  I  was  going. 
I  supposed  that  I  should  meet  some  scene  of  vio 
lence,  and  I  knew  not  what  might  be  the  result  to 
me. 

I  was  admitted  to  the  house  by  the  same  servant 
who  came  for  me.  A  single  lamp  lighted  the  hall. 
All  seemed  dark  beyond.  I  was  led  into  the  front 
parlor,  where,  seated  upon  a  sofa  behind  the  door,  I 
saw  this  man,  with  his  face  covered  with  his  hand 
kerchief,  and  his  wife  sitting  at  his  side.  She  sim 
ply  said,  "  Mr.  B.  thought  he  would  like  to  see  you, 
and  I  took  the  liberty  to  send."  With  that  he  ex 
claimed  in  broken  accents,  "  I  wish  to  know  wheth 
er  there  can  be  salvation  for  a  wretch,  like  me." 
"  Surely,"  said  I.  "But  what  has  led  you  to  ask  such 
a  question  of  me??>  "This  angel  woman,"  said  he. 
"  I  thought  you  the  blackest  of  human  beings.  You 
had  broken  up  the  peace  of  my  house.  You  had 


68  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

alienated  my  wife  and  daughter  from  me.  I  deter 
mined  to  kill  you.  I  have  watched  at  the  corner  of 
your  street  several  nights  to  shoot  you,  but  you  did 
not  come  by.  I  have  beaten  this  angel  in  my  anger. 
I  have  dragged  her  through  these  rooms  by  the  hair 
of  her  head;  but  she  has  never  spoken  one  harsh 
word  to  me.  She  has  prayed  for  me  ;  she  has  been 
more  loving  to  me  than  ever  before ;  and  I  can  stand 
it  no  longer.  Can  there  be  salvation  for  a  wretch 

O 

like  me?"  His  wife  tried  in  vain  to  moderate  the 
language  of  his  appeal. 

This  man  united  with  his  wife  and  daughter  in 
their  Christian  profession,  and  became  to  me  a  firm 
and  useful  friend.  By  God's  blessing,  patience  had 
its  perfect  work ;  and  his  house  seemed  to  them  all 
perfect  and  entire,  wanting  nothing. 

In  the  same  revival  in  our  church,  another  very 
similar  man,  not  quite  so  violent,  treated  his  wife, 
under  like  circumstances,  with  intense  ridicule.  He 
called  her,  at  his  own  table  and  before  her  children, 
"My  little  Jesus  Christ."  Of  him  I  heard  nothing 
better  than  continued  reproach.  So  far  as  I  knew, 
he  maintained  his  bitter  infidelity  to  the  end.  But  I 
ceased  not  to  uphold  his  persecuted  wife  with  encour 
agement  and  consolation  to  the  utmost  of  my  power. 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   FASTOK.  69 

A  Christian  pastor's  patience  must  endure  through 
all  such  scenes  and  trials.  His  sympathy  must  nev 
er  fail.  His  watchful  earnestness  must  never  cease. 
Unwearied  at  all  times,  night  and  day,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  bearing  all  things  with  unfailing  love. 
With  a  spirit  and  habit  so  maintained,  he  may  be 
permitted  to  reach  large  blessings  from  his  toil.  With 
out  this,  prophecies  must  fail,  tongues  must  cease, 
knowledge  must  vanish  away. 

The  wise  son  of  Siracli  says :  "  My  son,  if  thou 
come  to  serve  the  Lord,  prepare  thy  soul  for  tempta 
tion."  Without  all  patience  and  long-suffering,  as 
well  as  sympathy,  knowledge,  and  labor,  you  will  nev 
er  be  able  to  accomplish  or  to  endure  the  demands 
of  a  Christian  pastor's  work. 

VI.  To  all  these  most  important  qualifications,  I 
shall  add  refined  and  gentle  manners  and  habits. 
The  Christian  pastor  must  be  a  gentleman,  in  the 
moral  derivation  of  that  title.  True  Christianity  in 
its  practical  manifestation  is  refined  humanity,  in  its 
emotions,  conceptions,  desires,  as  well  as  in  its  habits. 
Too  really  right  to  be  assuming;  too  consciously 
dignified  to  be  pretentious  or  foppish ;  too  clear  and 
exalted  in  spirit  to  be  careless  or  dirty  or  offensive  in 
personal  habits.  Innately  conscious  ^of  the  proprie- 


70  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

ties  of  personal  relations.  Not  "  despising  dominions, 
nor  speaking  evil  of  dignities."  Perhaps  there  is  oft 
en  more  real  pride  in  vulgar  indifference  to  propriety 
of  manners,  to  places,  and  persons,  than  there  is  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  most  fastidious  regard  to  little  rela 
tive  proprieties  of  civilized  life. 

The  Christian  pastor  is  admitted,  by  the  respect  and 
courtesy  of  civilized  society,  to  families  in  every  sta 
tion  as  an  equal  friend.  He  may  associate  with  the 
best  bred  and  the  most  cultivated  families  with  whom 
he  meets,  receiving  their  cheerful  and  happy  welcome. 
And  he  is  wholly  unfitted  for  his  place  and  duty  if 
he  disgusts  by  his  boorish  habits ;  offends  by  his 
coarse  and  undignified  familiarities;  or  discards  the 
controlling  amenities  and  refinements  of  cultivated 
society. 

"  I  tread  on  the  pride  of  Plato,"  said  Diogenes,  as 
he  walked  across  the  Persian  carpet  which  covered 
the  floor  of  the  philosopher.  "  Yes,  and  with  more 
pride  than  Plato,"  answered  the  philosopher  to  the 
Cynic. 

Perhaps  you  may  smile,  if  I  give  you  a  few  little 
illustrations  of  unrefined  habits,  in  some  things,  which 
have  come  under  my  notice.  But  John  Wesley  did 
not  think  it  beneath  his  high  sphere  of  duty  to  give 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  1 

particular  instructions  to  his  preachers,  even  how  they 
should  leave  their  beds  and  chambers  in  the  morning, 
when  they  had  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  friends. 

Within  my  knowledge,  a  minister  who  was  lodged 
in  the  best  chamber  of  a  Christian  lady,  who  had  wel 
comed  him  with  much  pleasure  to  her  house,  painful 
ly  disgusted  her  when  she  found  in  the  morning  that 
he  had  taken  the  nice  embroidered  covering  from  her 
bureau  to  wipe  his  face  and  hands,  though  a  rack  of 
clean  napkins  was  openly  in  the  chamber. 

A  minister  once  officiating  for  me  wiped  his  nose 
and  face  in  the  midst  of  the  public  worship  with  the 
sleeve  of  a  clean  linen  surplice,  instead  of  his  own 
handkerchief,  to  the  great  abhorrence  of  many  who 
saw  him. 

A  minister  in  commencing  his  public  prayer  in  a 
highly  furnished  pulpit,  in  my  sight,  took  out  of  his 
mouth  a  large  piece  of  tobacco,  and  laid  it  down  upon 
the  marble  slab  which  finished  the  desk,  and  when 
his  prayer  was  finished  deliberately  put  it  into  his 
mouth  again. 

I  could  narrate  many  such  illustrations  of  coarse 
and  disgusting  habits  and  acts.  But  I  have  no  doubt 
that  many  such  violations  of  propriety  in  personal  de 
portment  have  been  known  to  you  all.  I  would  have 


72  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

yon  realize  that  these  are  not  trifling  or  mere  artificial 
things,  peculiar  to  the  habits  and  tastes  of  a  single 
class  of  society.  Refined  and  gentle  habits  are  even 
more  demanded  in  officiating  among  the  poor  than 
among  the  rich.  There  is  a  sense  of  propriety  among 
the  least  educated  and  the  most  limited  in  earthly 
means,  which  shrinks  just  as  instinctively  from  coarse 
ness  and  roughness,  from  vulgar  ways  and  rude  hab 
its,  and  which  is  impressed  just  as  really  by  the  man 
ners  and  deportment  of  well-bred  and  careful  persons, 
as  among  the  richest  families  with  whom  you  will 
associate. 

Affected  contempt  for  all  these  external  things,  as 
they  are  sometimes  called,  may  become  the  disciples 
of  a  down-treading  infidelity.  But  such  indifference 
is  wholly  repulsive  to  the  refining  purposes,  principles, 
and  habits  of  true  Christianity. 

A  well-educated  young  preacher  of  my  acquaint 
ance  visited  at  her  request  an  aged  Christian  woman, 
whose  circumstances  in  outward  life  were  very  limit 
ed.  After  his  departure,  her  spontaneous  exclama 
tion  was,  "  Dear  bless  you.  How  sweet  he  is.  Why, 
he  is  all  sunshine."  The  kind  and  graceful  manners 
of  the  young  minister  did  her  good,  like  a  medicine. 
I  was  once  with  a  gentleman  in  the  church  of  the 


OF   A    CIIEISTIAN   PASTOR.  73 

celebrated  Dr.  Bedell,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  ex 
tremely  impressed  by  his  personal  aspect,  apart  from 
his  ability  as  a  preacher.  lie  said  to  me  afterward, 
"Dr. Bedell  is  the  finest  specimen  of  the  manners  of  a 
clergyman,  of  pulpit  manners,  that  I  have  ever  seen." 
Perhaps  there  was  never  a  minister  who  was  a  more 
perfect  example  of  a  real,  tender,  pure,  loving,  unpre 
tending,  Christian  pastor  than  Dr.  Bedell.  He  was 
a  perfect  St.  John,  in  that  special  imitation  of  his 
divine  Lord ;  associating  with  all  as  an  equal,  and 
making  all  to  feel  as  wholly  equal  to  him  in  his 
society.  I  pray  you,  do  not  accustom  yourselves  to 
think  these  elements  of  no  importance  in  your  pastor 
al  life. 

I  must  conclude  this  review  of  selected  qualifica 
tions  for  a  useful  pastor's  life  and  work.  The  value 
of  a  faithful  cultivation  of  all  these  you  will  here 
after  fully  estimate.  But  they  must  be  acquired  at 
the  beginning.  The  certainty  of  an  acceptable  and 
successful  ministry  will  grow  out  from  them. 

With  a  conscience  and  heart  rightly  directed ;  with 
a  mind  enlightened  and  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
with  a  scheme  of  motives  sanctified  and  elevated; 
with  habits  of  personal  religion  fixed  and  real ;  with 
a  communion  with  your  exalted  Saviour  cultivated 

D 


74  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

and  established ;  with  a  sincere  love  for  the  souls 
whom  he  hath  redeemed,  implanted  and  cherished 
within  you;  with  your  consciousness  of  human  in 
firmities  awakening  a  brother's  interest  in  all  around 
you ;  with  a  real  conversion,  which  has  brought  your 
whole  soul  and  life  into  living  unity  with  Christ  your 
Lord;  with  an  undoubted  call  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  has  separated  you  to  the  work  to  which  your 
Lord  has  appointed  you ;  with  a  tender  sympathy,  an 
unwearied  patience,  a  generous  and  friendly  spirit, 
and  genial  and  refined  manners  in  the  sight  of  all 
among  whom  you  dwell — your  morning  will  be  full 
of  promise ;  your  whole  career  will  be  happiness  con 
tinued — owned  by  God,  honored  by  men ;  your  ret 
rospect  will  be  gratitude  and  peace.  The  sun  which 
has  shined  sweetly  through  the  day  will  sink  in  a  re 
pose  honored  and  beloved,  and  always  remembered 
with  delight  when  evening  comes. 

But  all  this  depends,  not  on  genius — not  on  unusual 
brilliancy  of  talent — but  on  a  simple,  persevering, 
earnest  fidelity  to  Christ  your  Lord,  which  works  con 
tentedly,  thankfully,  happily,  in  every  place  and  in 
every  relation,  because  it  works  every  where  for  him. 
These  are  the  qualifications  which  fade  not,  fail  not, 
disappoint  not,  discourage  not.  With  these,  you  will 


OF   A   CHKISTIAN   PASTOR.  75 

all  be  made  vessels  of  honor,  meet  for  the  Master's 
use,  because  you  are  proved  to  be  every  where  vessels 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  whom  Christ  is  formed  in  you 
the  hope  of  glory,  and  through  whose  power  Jesus 
dwelleth  in  you,  and  you  in  him. 


76  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 


LECTURE  III. 

October  1,  1873. 


MY  young  friends,  in  the  two  previous  lectures  I 
have  dwelt  upon  the  OBJECT  and  the  QUALIFICATIONS 
of  the  Christian  pastor  in  the  fulfillment  of  his  im 
portant  office  and  work. 

I  propose  now  to  speak  of  the  INSTKTJHENTS  which 
he  is  to  employ  in  the  practical  fulfillment  of  this 
work.  Suppose  Iris  object  to  be  clearly  defined  and 
understood ;  his  qualifications  to  be  ample  and  ap 
propriate  ;  himself  ready  to  undertake  his  responsible 
office  and  duty  in  the  variety  of  practical,  personal 
demands  which  it  must  necessarily  make  upon  him. 
The  question  immediately  arises,  as  a  most  pressing 
one,  How  shall  he  be  made  able  to  fulfill  the  wide 
and  varied  demands  which  are  to  be  made  upon  his 
thought  and  skill  ?  There  are  manifestly  two  sepa 
rate  provisions  needed  by  him — appropriate  instru 
ments  for  his  appointed  purpose,  and  skill  to  use  them 
successfully. 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  77 

There  is  scarcely  a  more  helpless  person  than  a 
youthful  pastor  in  his  first  personal  connection  with 
the  souls  for  whom  he  is  to  watch,  and  whom  he  has 
been  called  to  feed.  To  preach  the  sacred  "Word  in 
public,  with  a  few  prepared  sermons,  is  easy  and 
pleasant,  and  scarce  involves  any  anxiety.  To  deal 
alone  with  individuals — awakened,  anxious,  suffering 
souls  —  demands  a  wisdom  and  discernment  which 
will  rarely  be  found  in  the  opening  of  a  young  man's 
work  in  this  important  ministry.  It  is  to  stand,  in 
conscious  weakness  and  ignorance,  to  meet  all  the 
wants  of  an  immortal  being  in  a  crisis  which  we  but 
little  understand.  It  may  well  alarm  and  cast  down 
the  timorous  and  halting  mind.  And  yet,  if  we  go 
forward  in  the  spirit  of  conscious  sincerity,  leaning 
upon  pur  appropriate  and  promised  help  from  the 
gracious  Saviour  who  has  sent  us,  we  rarely  fail ;  we 
are  soon  enlarged,  instructed,  and  enabled  to  go  for 
ward  with  success. 

1  well  remember  my  first  experience  of  this  search 
ing  demand.  At  nineteen  years  of  age  I  had  just 
entered  upon  my  regular  candidateship  and  study  at 
Bristol,  Rhode  Island.  I  was  even  then  a  constant 
preacher.  Coming  out  of  church  one  Sunday  even 
ing  after  a  very  solemn  service  by  the  venerable 


IS  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Bishop  Griswold,  during  which  he  broke  entirely 
down,  and  was  conducted  out  of  church  before  the 
service  was  regularly  concluded,  I  saw  a  company  of 
persons  gathered  round  a  large  square  pew  in  the 
middle  aisle.  As  I  joined  them,  I  saw  a  young  wom 
an  under  deep  distress  of  mind,  and  I  was  asked  to 
speak  to  her.  I  will  not  attempt  to  repeat  the  follies 
of  my  attempt.  Perhaps  I  did  not  appear  to  others 
so  foolish  as  I  seemed  to  myself.  But  if  I  had  been 
called  to  command  and  steer  a  ship,  I  should  hardly 
have  felt  more  incompetent.  And  yet  that  very 
mortification  was  very  instructive  to  me  for  my  then 
coming  work — it  made  a  part  of  my  preparation  for 
teaching  many. 

But  I  can  say  most  truly  to  you  now,  that  no  de 
mand  in  life  can  be  more  serious  and  searching  as 
an,  employment  than  this  spiritual  dealing  with  awak 
ened  souls.  And  this  is  one  most  important  depart 
ment  of  a  pastor's  life.  The  Holy  Spirit  alone  can 
give  the  ability  accurately  and  usefully  to  deal  with 
it.  But  HE  will  instruct  and  bless  the  feeblest  ef 
fort  of  sincerity  in  the  Lord's  service.  And  while 
you  go  forward  in  your  Master's  work  with  a  true 
and  faithful  heart — whether  as  messengers  to  call,  as 
watchmen  to  protect,  or  as  pastors  to  feed  and  pro- 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN    PASTOR.  79 

vide  for  the  children  of  God — there  will  be  a  divine 
power  always  attending  you,  applying  the  word  which 
you  speak  in  conscious  feebleness,  with  living  ener 
gy,  and  giving  you  increasing  encouragement  every 
day. 

I  will  illustrate  this  fact  by  the  next  experience  of 
mine  to  the  mortifying  one  already  stated.  That 
very  Sunday  night  was  the  last  of  the  Bishop's  preach 
ing  for  more  than  eight  weeks.  There  was  no  other 
one  besides  me  to  be  his  substitute,  and  to  maintain 
the  public  and  private  worship  and  the  meetings  of 
the  church.  And  this  was  the  commencement  of  a 
very  remarkable  revival  of  religion,  which,  under  that 
head,  I  shall  hereafter  describe.  "Within  a  few  days 
I  was  called  to  visit  a  poor  sailor-boy  who  was  ill  in 
a  consumption.  He  had  been  a  wild,  wandering 
youth  from  his  childhood.  "When  I  first  saw  him  in 
this  bed  of  poverty  and  distress,  he  seemed  to  me 
as  spiritually  ignorant  as  the  Greenlanders  among 
whom,  in  his  whaling  voyages,  he  had  been.  I  ques 
tioned  in  my  own  mind  whether  he  was  competent 
to  be  taught  the  precious  truths  of  the  Gospel.  With 
his  widowed  mother  he  lived  alone,  utterly  destitute 
and  deserted,  in  a  small,  wretched  cottage  in  the  out 
skirts  of  the  town. 


80  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

But  wonderful  was  the  lesson  whicli  God  had  gra 
ciously  prepared  for  me  at  that  bedside  of  poverty 
and  distress.  I  daily  read  to  him  the  precious  Word 
of  God.  I  told  him  of  the  love  of  Jesus  to  the  lost 
and  the  wretched.  I  prayed  by  his  bedside  every 
day.  My  whole  heart  went  out  to  him  in  loving 
sympathy  and  earnestness.  Divine  light  from  the 
Saviour's  countenance  soon  burst  upon  him  and  upon 
me  with  heavenly  brightness.  This  poor,  outcast 
boy,  efnaciated,  with  his  bones  literally  wearing 
through  his  skin,  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  with 
all  joy  and  peace  in  believing.  The  gracious  Spirit, 
in  teaching  him,  was  every  day  teaching  me  yet 
more  and  more  abundantly. 

The  poor  youth  partially  recovered,  and  in  the 
opening  spring  was  able  to  be  out.  He  was  visited 
and  encouraged  by  others.  His  case  became  well 
known  in  the  church.  Some  months  after,  I  was 
conducting  one  of  the  Conference  meetings  of  the 
church.  In  the  dim  light,  in  the  extreme  part  of  the 
hall,  a  man  arose  and  asked  permission  to  give  an  ac 
count  of  the  Lord's  dealing  with  him.  He  told  his 
story  with  a  deep,  hollow  voice,  but  in  language  of 
singular  simplicity  and  beauty.  Every  heart  was 
moved ;  every  eye  wept  in  grateful  sympathy.  It 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  81 

was  my  poor  sailor -boy,  whom  I  had  thought  too 
ignorant  to  be  taught.  But  he  had  become,  under 
the  blessing  of  God,  my  teacher.  Soon  after  this 
he  departed,  with  the  clearest  hope  in  Jesus,  and 
with  an  intense,  absorbing  love  for  his  divine  Re 
deemer. 

The  history  and  experience  of  that  sailor-boy  have 
been  to  me  a  perennial  comfort  and  joy  in  my  con 
stant  remembrance  of  him.  So  far  as  I  know,  he 
was  the  first  fruits  of  my  boyish  ministry,  and  he  has 
been  a  divinely  appointed  guide  to  me,  in  my  mem 
ory  of  him,  through  all  my  years  succeeding.  I  have 
never  since  doubted  the  power  or  the  fullness  of  that 
exalted  Saviour  to  raise  the  most  sunken,  or  to  trans 
form  to  an  angel  of  light  the  most  darkened  and  ig 
norant  of  the  lost  children  of  sorrow  and  sin.  The 
torch  of  divinely  imparted  hope  and  confidence,  which 
was  lighted  at  the  side  of  that  poor  boy's  bed,  has 
never  fallen  from  my  hand,  in  a  ministry  since  so 
largely  demanded  and  tried. 

What,  then,  are  the  INSTRUMENTS  by  which  such  a 
ministry  is  to  be  carried  out?  I  do  not  now  speak 
of  the  POWER,  by  which  alone,  with  any  instruments 
employed,  we  can  obtain  a  blessing.  But  what  are 
the  instruments  in  the  use  of  which  we  may  justly 


82  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

expect  that  blessing — the  accredited  instruments  of  a 
pastor's  work  ? 

I.  I  answer,  first,  the  WORD  OF  GOD  thoroughly  'be 
lieved.  I  emphasize  this  word.  "VVe  may  truly  apply 
the  divine  testimony  to  this  case,  "  Whatsoever  is  not 
of  faith,  is  sin."  As  pastors,  we  are  sent  to  teach  this 
heavenly  truth,  the  Word  of  the  living  God.  It  is 
our  duty  to  feed  the  souls  committed  to  us  with  the 
bread  of  God,  here  provided,  for  giving  life  to  the 
souls  of  men.  We  go  with  this  inspired  Word,  in 
our  hands,  in  our  memories,  in  our  hearts.  We  do 
not,  we  can  not  go  beyond  this  Word  of  the  Lord, 
less  or  more.  We  receive  it,  as  Paul  received,  as 
"given  to  us,  by  the  inspiration  of  God."  Every 
word  of  it  is  good,  as  the  Lord  hath  appointed  it,  and 
as  it  was  "  spoken  by  men,  who  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  It  is,  to  our  implicit  and  entire  faith, 
just  as  clearly  and  truly  a  revelation  from  God, 
turning  upon  the  poles  of  everlasting  truth,  as  if  the 
Book  we  hold  were  the  single  copy  in  the  world, 
given  from  God,  expressly  to  us,  and  we  had  received 
it,  as  Moses,  in  the  burning  mount  of  Arabia,  or  as 
John,  from  the  opened  heaven,  in  the  glowing  soli 
tude  of  Patmos. 

Whatever  thorough  or  searching  study  we  are  able 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK.  83 

to  give,  of  manuscripts  and  versions,  of  collateral 
testimonies  and  subsequent  objections,  will  undoubt 
edly  be  a  part  of  our  preparation  for  our  work.  But 
all  that  work  of  preparing  and  examining,  necessary 
as  it  is,  must  be  entirely  separate  from  this  actual 
preaching  in  the  parlor,  or  teaching  by  the  bedside, 
and  in  personal  conversation  with  the  ignorant  and 
inquiring. 

The  pulpit,  even,  is  no  place  for  the  discussion  of 
the  authority  of  a  message,  or  for  any  apologetic  de 
fense  of  the  Word  of  salvation  which  we  are  sent  to 
proclaim.  We  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  not  to 
argue  the  authority  of  our  commission,  nor  to  heed 
the  reproaches  or  the  objections  of  those  to  whom 
wre  are  sent  on  this  errand  of  the  Lord.  Even  there, 
there  is  no  worth,  nor  will  there  be  any  advantage 
in  this  time-serving  concession. 

I  was  in  company  once  with  a  well-educated  gen 
tleman  in  one  of  the  Southern  States,  who  had  heard, 
from  a  minister  of  some  repute,  a  long  sermon,  ad 
dressed  to  a  large  congregation  of  country  people,  on 
the  evidences  of  Christianity.  He  acutely  remarked, 
in  reference  to  the  defects  of  the  sermon, "  One  of  the 
strongest  evidences  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Gospel 
to  me  is  that  it  stands,  and  has  stood,  through  ages 


84:  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

of  such  inadequate  preaching."  To  his  view,  the 
preacher  was  called  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  not  to 
defend  the  authority  with  which  it  came. 

But  if  we  should  concede  that  this  outside  work 
at  any  time  becomes  the  pulpit,  it  has  no  place  in 
this  pastoral  work.  In  that,  we  go  with  the  clear, 
calm  resting  of  our  minds  and  hearts  upon  the  cer 
tainty  and  fullness  of  this  Word  of  God.  "We  read 
ily  impart  all  the  information  we  have ;  we  freely 
tell  all  we  know;  we  aid,  as  far  as  we  are  able,  all 
the  infirmities  we  meet;  but  our  one  instrument  is 
the  absolute  truth  of  the  Gospel.  Our  message  is  the 
love,  the  death,  the  glory  of  Jesus.  Our  authority  is 
the  everlasting  Word  of  God.  Our  employment  is 
instruction,  not  discussion.  Our  power  is  in  the  great 
truth  which  we  are  sent  to  preach,  and  in  the  attend 
ing  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  who  blesses  and  applies 
it.  The  more  simply  you  tell  the  fullness  of  your 
Master's  love,  far  the  better  is  your  work  for  all,  and 
especially  for  the  educated  and  the  reflecting  portion 
of  your  hearers. 

But  when  we  come  to  this  work  of  private  minis 
tration,  this  daily  pastor  work,  in  proportion  to  our 
faith  and  our  reality,  in  the  use  of  the  Word  of  God 
is  our  success.  All  doubts  and  questions  must  be  left 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  85 

behind.  We  are  to  go  upon  a  direct,  divine,  per 
sonal  mission,  with  minds  thoroughly  established  in 
the  truth  we  teach,  imparting  it  in  the  simplest  and 
clearest  way  to  all  to  whom  we  are  sent,  as  adapted 
to  their  particular  case  and  need.  And  you  will  al 
ways  find  that  the  children  of  God  delight  in  the 
language  of  their  Father's  Word  and  their  Father's 
home. 

In  my  pastoral  rounds  in  a  Southern  country  par 
ish,  I  visited  a  widow  lady  whose  afflictions  had  been 
very  great.  Her  only  daughter,  a  lovely  young  com 
panion  in  her  solitude,  I  had  buried  but  a  few  months 
before.  She  had  since  lived  entirely  alone.  I  found 
her  in  bed,  with  a  large  Bible  spread  out  before  her 
in  which  she  was  reading.  I  expressed  my  pleasure 
in  finding  her  so  employed.  "  My  precious  Bible," 
she  said;  "what  should  I  have  done  this  long  and 
lonely  winter  without  my  Bible  ?  I  have  had  none 
to  talk  with  but  that  dear  Saviour  who  speaks  to  me 
in  this  precious  Book."  This  is  an  illustration  of  the 
way  in  which  Jesus  speaks  in  his  own  Word,  and 
gives  us  new  encouragement  to  rest  upon  it. 

Go  out  thus  in  your  pastor  work,  with  the  Word 
of  God,  thoroughly  believed,  steadfastly,  gratefully 
adopted — never  yielded,  never  allowed  to  be  ques- 


86  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

tioned  or  doubted  in  your  mind.  The  more  stead 
fast  and  absolute  you  are  in  this,  the  more  abundant 
ly  and  really  will  your  work  prosper,  and  your  souls 
be  blessed. 

II.  A  second,  most  important  instrument  in  your 
pastor  work  will  be  a  personal  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel,  clearly  understood  and  clearly  expressed.  I 
have  lately  seen  the  phrase  "The  plan  of  salvation" 
ridiculed,  as  a  form  of  expression,  by  a  very  popular 
public  speaker.  There  is,  notwithstanding,  a  very 
clear,  consistent,  and  well-defined  plan  of  salvation  in 
the  Word  of  God.  Let  us  not  forget  that  salvation 
for  man  must  be  wholly  an  external  work — by  an 
agency  separate  from  man.  ISTo  man  can  save  him 
self.  If  he  be  not  lost,  ruined,  and  in  despair,  there 
can  be  no  real  desire  for  salvation,  nor  any  effective 
sense  of  its  need.  The  soul  can  not  find  salvation  in 
its  own  duties  or  attainments,  nor  in  forms  or  sacra 
ments  or  religious  usages  and  observances.  To  di 
rect  a  man  to  his  own  strength  or  works  for  salva 
tion  is  but  telling  him  to  pull  himself  out  of  the  ditch, 
into  which  he  has  fallen,  by  the  hair  of  his  own  head. 
Yet  in  this  skeptical  and  self-confident  age  there  is 
a  fearful  amount  of  this  retroverting  and  introvert 
ing  direction  suggested  to  men. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  87 

But  we  can  not  go  forth  upon  any  scheme  of  this 
kind.  The  work  which  we  need,  and  to  which  we 
must  direct,  is  not  by  human  might  or  power,  but  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God.  The  edifying  and  nour 
ishing  truth,  the  truth  which  gives  life  to  the  perish 
ing  soul,  is  always  and  only  the  glorious  and  finished 
work  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  embraced  by  a  living 
faith  in  the  mind,  the  heart,  the  conscience  of  man. 
The  soul  can  not  feed  upon  any  other  than  this  liv 
ing  manna,  this  bread  of  everlasting  life.  And  the 
wisdom,  the  power,  the  discrimination  of  the  pastoral 
ministry  are  here  displayed. 

The  family  of  a  very  sick  lady  in  my  flock,  during 
a  temporary  absence  of  mine,  sent  for  a  neighboring 
minister  to  visit  her  within  a  few  hours  of  her  death. 
She  was  beyond  the  reach  of  conversation,  and  lie 
did  not  attempt  that.  But  he  proceeded  to  admin 
ister  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  her,  in 
this  almost  insensible  condition,  probably  while  she 
was  wholly  unconscious  of  his  design.  Her  daugh 
ters  told  me  that  she  died  with  the  bread  in  her 
mouth,  and  with  the  wine  dripping  over  her  cheeks, 
with  her  lips  closed  against  it. 

This  was  his  exercise  of  a  pastor's  work  in  such 
an  extremity.  It  seemed  to  me  almost  a  blasphe- 


88  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

inous  perversion.  Many  similar  illustrations  of  the 
varied  perversions  of  a  Gospel  ministry  might  be 
given.  The  skepticism  of  one  will  rest  in  duties  and 
virtues  of  man.  The  formalism  of  another  will  pro 
pose  outward  rites  and  ceremonies.  The  true  Chris 
tian  pastor,  in  private  as  in  public,  preaches  and 
teaches  of  the  glorious  finished  work  of  Jesus,  and 
of  Jesus  only.  The  precious  evangelical  message 
which  he  carries  is  the  glad  tidings  of  the  glorious 
fullness  of  a  Saviour's  work,  the  completeness  of  a 
Saviour's  offering,  and  the  merit  of  a  Saviours  right- 

O?  O 

eousness,  to  be  received,  accepted,  and  rejoiced  in  by 
grateful,  believing  man.  And  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  will  attend  this  faithful  ministration 
of  the  Gospel,  and  open  and  apply  the  message,  to 
the  salvation  and  the  joyful  experience  of  the  be 
lieving  soul. 

This  is  our  message  and  our  instrument.  By  the 
bedside  of  sickness,  in  the  house  of  affliction,  in  all 
the  anxious  trials  to  which  we  minister,  we  are  to  tell, 
in  the  simplest  terms,  of  that  one  gracious,  all-sufficient 
Redeemer,  by  whose  death  the  sinner  has  been  ran 
somed  ;  in  whose  precious  blood  the  soul  is  to  be 
washed  and  cleansed ;  by  whose  perfect  righteousness 
the  believer  is  to  be  justified;  and  by  whose  infinite 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  89 

power  the  pardoned  soul  is  to  be  carried  on  through 
grace  to  glory. 

We  are  to  go  every  where  and  to  every  one  with 
this  message  of  life  eternal  in  the  only-begotten  Son 
of  God.  This  is  God's  merciful  provision,  and  this  is 
our  effectual  instrument.  He  has  given  to  us  to  un 
derstand  and  to  value  the  message,  to  believe  in  its 
authority,  to  feel  its  power,  and  to  be  willing  to  suf 
fer  its  reproach.  In  the  faithful  fulfillment  of  this 
divinely  appointed  work  we  are  always  caused,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  to  triumph  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
And  we  suffer  nothing  to  divert  us,  or  to  repel  us,  from 
the  utterance  of  this  one  grand  message — a  full,  free, 
and  everlasting  salvation,  for  every  soul  of  man  to 
whom  the  message  comes,  and  by  whom  it  is  received, 
in  the  perfect,  unchangeable  fullness  of  a  personal, 
exalted,  glorious  Saviour. 

For  this  persevering  simplicity  of  teaching  we  are 
sometimes  reproached  and  perhaps  ridiculed.  In  a 
meeting  of  ministers  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  one 
gave  an  account  of  a  Sunday  which  he  had  passed 
in  that  city.  In  the  morning  he  had  been  to  hear 

T ,  he  said.  Another  asked,  "What  did  he  preach 

about?"  "Oh, he  is  always  about  the  same  thing — 
forever  exalting  and  glorifying  Christ."  An  aged 


90  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

minister  present  exclaimed,  "  Did  any  -man  ever  give 
a  nobler  tribute  to  another  than  you  have  thus  given 
to  him  ?"  You  may  be  reproached  by  the  unbeliev 
ing,  the  self-righteous,  and  the  skeptical.  But  God 
your  Saviour  will  honor  your  work  and  yourselves 
for  your  unchanging  fidelity  to  him. 

I  was  requested  to  visit  a  very  fashionable  and 
giddy  lady,  sick  at  a  hotel  in  New  York,  by  a  faithful 
friend  of  hers.  The  lady  herself  was  a  Universalist 
by  her  own  assertion.  I  found  her  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  gay  and  gaudy  women. "  Novels  and  news 
papers  were  strewed  over  her  table  and  bed ;  and  the 
whole  aspect  of  the  place  was  trinirig  and  vain  in  the 
extreme.  One  of  her  friends  said,  "  She  is  very  sick, 
do  not  alarm  her."  I  declined  all  interference,  and 
sitting  by  the  side  of  her  bed,  I  told  her  freely  of  the 
Saviour's  work  and  fullness,  and  of  her  own  necessity 
for  such  a  Saviour  for  her  ruined  soul.  A  solemn 
silence  filled  the  room  while  I  was  speaking.  All 
seemed  to  be  controlled  by  a  divine  power.  I  knelt 
by  her  bed  and  prayed  for  her  and  for  all.  Whether 
I  should  be  rejected  or  received,  I  did  not  consider. 
The  event  proved  that  the  Lord  had  sent  me,  and 
that  it  was  his  work  in  which  I  was  engaged.  That 
visit,  and  that  Gospel  which  she  had  never  before 


OF   A  CIIEISTIAN  PASTOE.  91 

heard,  for  she  confessed  herself  to  have  lived  without 
a  church  or  Sabbath,  were  made  the  divine  instrument 
for  her  salvation. 

My  next  visit  found  her  very  differently  employed. 
Her  only  companion  was  the  Christian  friend  who 
had  asked  me  to  visit  her,  and  who  was  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church ;  and  she  herself  held  in  her  hand 
a  Testament,  which  she  was  apparently  reading.  She 
had  opened  it  at  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Eomans.  She  said,  "  I  have  not  been  able  to  get 
beyond  this  first  verse,  c  ISTo  condemnation  to  them 
who  are  in  Christ  Jesus.'  Oh,  what  a  precious  testi 
mony  !  What  a  truth  that  is !" 

I  saw  much  of  this  woman  for  years  after  this. 
She  became  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  truth-lov 
ing  Christians  to  whom  I  have  ministered.  She  has 
long  since  been  admitted  to  the  glory  of  that  Saviour's 
presence  whom  she  was  thus  enabled  to  accept  and 
love. 

I  would  press  upon  you  the  importance  of  these 
two  great  instruments  in  a  pastor's  work :  your  BIBLE, 
accepted  by  yourself  without  a  doubt  of  its  divine  au 
thority  and  appointment,  and  employed  in  your  own 
experience  as  unquestionable  and  sanctifying  truth ; 
and  the  precious  SCHEME  of  free  and  full  salvation  in 


92  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

the  Gospel  contained  therein,  and  maintained,  em 
ployed,  presented  by  you  every  where  to  every  soul, 
with  constant  earnestness,  with  perfect  freedom,  and 
with  entire  assurance. 

In  this  system  of  faithful,  prayerful  labor,  the  work 
of  the  Lord  will  prosper  in  your  personal  private  ef 
forts  to  save  the  souls  committed  to  you,  and  to  edify 
the  people  of  God  in  the  love,  the  faith,  the  holiness 
which  his  Word  prescribes.  I  do  not  now  speak  of 
these  two  instruments  as  elements  of  your  own  spir 
itual  growth,  and  thereby  secondary  instruments  of 
your  pastoral  usefulness;  I  speak  of  them  as  direct, 
positive  instruments  of  active  influence  upon  others ; 
and  to  be  put  into  use  and  operation  by  you — simply, 
boldly,  constantly — in  all  your  pastoral  ministrations, 
as  messengers  of  Christ,  and  as  the  educators  and 
guides  of  a  peculiar  people,  for  his  service  and  glory. 

III.  A  third  and  most  effective  instrument  in  your 
pastoral  work  is  HABITUAL  PKAYEE,  for  and  with  all 
to  whom  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  send  you.  This  will 
include  your  own  unceasing -exercise  of  this  precious 
privilege  in  your  own  private  hours  and  relations,  as 
God's  appointed  instrument  for  your  own  personal 
edification.  ISTo  class  of  Christian  men  so  much  need 
the  constant  influence  and  efficacy  of  personal  private 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK. 


03 


prayer  as  the  ministers  of  Christ.  They  are  not  only 
compassed  about  with  the  common  infirmities  of  hu 
manity,  but  they  have  very  peculiar  temptations  of 
their  own.  They  need  constantly  to  cultivate  person 
al  and  relative  affections,  which  are  heavily  tried  in 
all  the  circumstances  of  their  professional  life.  They 
need  a  constantly  guarded  reverence  for  God  and  the 
things  of  God.  The  old  proverb, "  The  nearer  the 
church,  the  farther  from  God,"  is  by  no  means  a  mere 
profane  imagination. 

There  is  much  in  the  handling  of  sacred  things  to 
make  them  common  and  forgotten.  There  grows  a 
familiarity  which  inclines  very  rapidly  to  indifference 
and  contempt.  In  every  aspect  of  his  inward  experi 
ence,  the  minister  of  Jesus  needs  watchfulness  and 
prayer  without  ceasing,  to  keep  him  in  constant  re 
membrance  of  the  wants  of  his  own  soul,  and  of  the 
holiness  of  the  Being  whom  he  professes  to  serve. 
There  is  much  in  the  freedom  of  mutual  clerical  in 
tercourse,  where  the  natural  unbending  of  a  common 
restraint  among  mutually  confiding  brethren  creates 
an  unusual  levity,  which  up  to  a  certain  point  is  a 
helpful  refreshment,  but  which  also  leads  to  a  natural 
excess,  far  from  edifying,  and  possibly  very  injurious. 
And  to  keep  ourselves  in  our  most  holy  faith,  and  to 


94:  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

edify  each  other  in  the  love  of  God,  there  is  needed 
for  us  a  constant  "  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 

"We  have  thus  impressed  upon  us  the  necessity  of 
the  cultivation  of  a  habit  of  personal,  private  prayer, 
for  our  own  individual  growth,  in  the  communion  of 
the  Spirit,  and  in  the  mind  and  image  of  Christ  our 
Lord.  The  immediate  secondary  influence  of  such  a 
habit  acts  directly  and  effectively  upon  the  character 
of  our  pastoral  life.  The  shining  countenance  which 
true  prayer,  however  secret  in  its  exercises,  brings 
from  the  presence  and  fellowship  of  our  glorified 
Saviour,  can  never  be  hidden  from  those  with  -whom 
we  dwell  and  upon  whom  we  act.  The  man  of  pri 
vate,  personal  prayer  is  known  far  more  widely  than 
he  wists,  and  is  discovered  far  more  frequently  than 
he  supposes. 

But  I  am  speaking  here  of  relative,  intercessory 
prayer :  habitual  prayer  for  all  to  whom  we  are  sent 
as  the  ministers  of  Christ  and  the  pastors  of  his  flock. 
How  precious  is  this  permission  for  relative  interces 
sion.  How  much  we  habitually  gain  from  the  prayers 
of  the  Lord's  people,  the  children  of  our  Father  in 
Heaven,  for  us. 

I  was  once  welcomed  in  a  visit  to  a  very  godly  and 
spiritually  minded  child  under  my  ministry,  confined 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  95 

with  consumption,  in  her  last  sickness  (she  died  at  six 
teen  years  of  age),  with  this  affectionate  utterance : 
"  Oh,  my  precious  pastor,"  so  she  always  called  me, 
"  I  have  had  a  most  lovely  night  of  prayer  for  you. 
I  have  spent  my  waking  hours — for  you  know  I  can 
sleep  but  little — in  telling  our  dear  Saviour  the  bless 
ings  I  wanted  him  to  bestow  upon  you  and  your  dear 
son."  That  son  was  my  eldest,  whom  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  take  from  a  very  useful  ministry  many 
years  ago.  "  Perhaps  I  ought  not  to  say  a  whole 
night ;  but  more  than  half  the  night  I  have  been 
praying  for  you,  and  I  know  that  Jesus  will  hear  me. 
You  know  Jesus  always  hears  our  prayers.  My 
precious  pastor,  this  is  what  I  think :  first,  God  the 
Father  loved  me  and  chose  me  to  be  his  child ;  sec 
ond,  God  the  Son  loved  me,  and  came  to  save  me,  be 
cause  I  was  his  child ;  third,  God  the  Holy  Spirit 
loved  me,  and  came  to  call  me,  and  tell  me  that  I  was 
his  child.  Is  that  right,  my  precious  pastor  ?"  How 
precious  to  us  are  the  prayers  of  such  real  and  loving 
children  of  God. 

Thus  should  we  constantly,  earnestly  spread  the 
names,  the  conditions,  the  wants  of  those  whom  God 
has  committed  to  our  ministry  before  him.  "We 
share  the  blessings  they  obtain."  Their  various  trials, 


96  THE    OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

their  dangers,  tlieir  homes  and  households,  should  be 
constantly,  frequently  presented  to  a  prayer-hearing 
Saviour.  We  should  preface  every  distinct  pastoral 
effort  and  visitation  with  particular  prayer.  We  can 
not  really  fulfill  or  endure  the  cares  and  burdens  and 
wants  of  our  condition  and  office  in  any  other  way. 
There  will  be  constantly  questions,  applications,  cases, 
difficulties,  wholly  belonging  to  other  people  in  their 
immediate  relation,  laid  upon  us,  in  the  adjusting  of 
which  God  alone  can  direct  or  enlighten  us.  We 
bear  thus  obligations,  demands,  entirely  beyond  our 
wisdom  or  our  power  to  meet,  and  which  most  fre 
quently  we  can  not  communicate  to  any  human  ears. 
We  have  no  recourse,  no  instrument  of  relief,  but  the 
mercy-seat,  of  a  reconciled  and  ruling  God.  We  go 
upon  many  a  personal  mission  in  which  we  are  at  our 
wits'  end.  Our  gracious  Leader  alone  can  open  and 
make  clear  our  way.  Our  people  will  never  know  on 
earth  what  hours  of  care,  anxiety,  distress,  and  earnest 
intercession  wTe  have  watched  for  them.  Scarcely 
exaggerated  is  Paul's  expression,  "  My  little  children, 
for  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again,  until  Christ  be 
formed  in  you." 

But  I  wish  to  speak  also  of  direct  and  vocal  prayer 
in  our  actual  visits  as  pastors  of  the  flock.     There 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  97 

may  be  many  obstacles  to  tins  habit,  especially  in 
large  cities.  But  if  it  be  possible,  no  pastoral  visit 
should  be  made  without  prayer.  Let  it  not  be  too 
officiously  or  professionally  interposed,  but  naturally 
flowing  from  our  whole  character  and  the  natural  in 
fluence  of  the  visit  which  we  have  made.  Far  more 
often  than  we  are  ready  to  believe,  Jesus  meets  us 
with  a  special  blessing  in  this  affectionate,  intercessory 
prayer. 

A  young  man  in  my  congregation,  who  had  finished 
his  college  course  in  New  York,  and  had  passed  two 
years  in  France  for  a  scientific  education,  came  home 
an  avowed  infidel.  He  sunk  into  a  wasting  and  fa- 

O 

tal  sickness  after  his  return.  His  mother,  a  sincere 
Christian,  begged  me  to  visit  him.  I  was  received  by 
him  personally  with  respect  and  gratitude.  But  he 
would  yield  to  no  instruction  from  me.  He  was  un 
willing  to  listen  to  me  at  all  upon  the  great  subject 
for  which  I  came.  It  became  to  me  a  very  painful 
and  depressing  mission.  But  I  persevered  in  my 
visits.  He  tried  in  vain  to  prevent  my  kneeling  at 
his  side,  and  to  excuse  himself  from  attending  to  me. 
I  might  say  unceasing  prayer  was  made  to  God  for 
him  by  many  Christian  relations.  Weeks  went  by, 
apparently  in  vain.  But  God  who  heareth  prayer 

E 


08  THE    OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

was  working  quite  beyond  us.  After  one  visit,  in 
which,  as  usual,  I  had  earnestly  presented  to  him  the 
fullness  and  the  love  of  Christ,  and  besought  him  to 
accept  the  Saviour  in  his  heart  with  love  and  thank 
fulness,  I  knelt  as  usual  by  his  couch  in  prayer.  He 
turned  his  back  to  me  and  his  face  to  the  wall.  In 
the  earnestness  of  my  prayer,  I  laid  my  hand  upon 
him,  and  pressed  him  to  me.  He  afterward  told 
his  mother  with  delight,  that  in  the  midst  of  that 
prayer,  the  tenderness  of  my  manner  and  the  thought 
of  my  faithfulness  to  him  first  really  awakened  and 
impressed  him,  and  the  love  of  Jesus  filled  his  heart 
with  new  and  wonderful  feelinsr.  When  I  saw  him 

*TD 

again,  his  face  was  animated  and  elevated  in  a  very 
peculiar  degree.  I  needed  but  a  glance  to  see  that 
he  was  really  a  new  creature.  Henceforth  the 
Scriptures  were  his  delight.  He  would  have  them 
read  to  him  continually.  It  became  a  joy  indeed 
to  minister  to  him.  He  sank  quietly  away  in  a 
few  days  after.  His  mother,  listening  to  his  dying 
whisper,  heard  him  repeating  the  twenty-third  Psalm. 
The  last  words  she  caught  were,  "  I  pass  through 
the  valley  and  shadow  of  death.  Thou  art  with  me 
— guide  me,  lead  me." 

What  a  gift  to  the  ministry  is  the  conversion  of 


OF    A    CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK.  00 

such  a  youth !  What  a  privilege  to  a  pastor  is  the 
open  door  of  prayer!  What  an  instrument  does 
prayer  become  in  a  pastor's  work  when  he  is  ena 
bled  to  pray  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  under 
standing  also!  Learn  to  cultivate  this  habit  .and 

O 

employment.  Keep  the  edge  of  prayer  bright  and 
sharp,  appropriate,  intelligent,  instructive,  Scriptural, 
and  spiritual. 

Thus,  with  a  mind  established  in  the  Word  of 
God,  thoroughly  believed,  accepted  in  the  infallible 
truth  of  its  inspiration  from  God ;  enjoying  the  dis 
criminate  and  experimental  knowledge  of  the  Gos 
pel,  clearly  understood ;  living  in  personal  commun 
ion  with  Jesus  as  your  known  and  beloved  Saviour;, 
moving  and  acting  in  the  spirit  and  exercise  of 
prayer  unceasing  —  the  pastor's  life  will  be  to  you 
no  life  of  trial  or  weariness,  but  a  life  of  friendship, 
influence,  usefulness,  and  unspeakable  joy. 

IY.  A  fourth  most  important  instrument  in  a  pas 
tors  work  is  manifest,  simple  FIDELITY  TO  JESUS.  I 
mean  an  undisputed  life,  that  is  really  one  with  him, 
and  a  living  epistle  for  him,  known  and  read  of  all 
men.  You  will  meet  with  a  very  quick  perception, 
among  the  people  over  whom  you  watch,  whether 
you  are  real  and  true  in  your  personal  Christian 


100  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

walk,  or  whether  you  are  only  professional  agents 
and  shams.  The  pastor's  usefulness  depends  almost 
entirely  upon  the  confidence  of  the  people  with 
whom  he  is  called  to  associate.  Seal,  affectionate 
trust,  meeting  him,  welcoming  him,  aiding  him,  is 
more  than  half  of  his  ability  to  do  good  to  them. 

What  you  need  at  all  times  is  that  which  the 
Apostle  calls  "  simplicity,  godly  sincerity."  I  call 
it  here  a  simple  fidelity  to  Jesus.  It  is  being  in 
the  world,  as  he  was  in  the  world.  Having  his 
cause,  his  authority,  and  his  glory  manifestly  the 
one  commanding  object  of  your  life.  And  of  this 
I  now  speak,  as  an  instrument  for  your  personal  use 
fulness  as  pastors  of  his  flock. 

There  is  sometimes  an  assumed  separation,  an  ap 
parent,  studied,  professional  holiness,  in  the  aspect 
and  manners  of  a  minister,  which  repels  and  dis 
gusts.  It  comes  in  sight,  with  a  kind  of  barking 
warning,  Stand  by  thyself,  come  not  near  to  me;  I 
am  holier  than  thou.  There  is  also  sometimes  a 
cold,  professional  air,  which  gives  the  immediate  im 
pression  of  a  relative  loftiness,  a  want  of  sympathy 
with  the  weakness  and  ignorance  of  others.  There 
is  sometimes  a  levity  of  manner  in  the  opposite  ex 
treme,  which  appears  completely  inconsistent  with 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN  PASTOK.  101 

the  serious,  commanding  interests  and  themes  which 
have  been  committed  to  the  Christian  pastor. 

I  refer  to  all  these  now  simply  in  their  instru 
mental  character ;  the  inevitable  effect  which  they 
have  in  their  operation  upon  a  pastor's  influence, 
acceptance,  and  usefulness  among  the  people  to 
whom  he  has  been  sent.  The  one  of  these  series 
will  create  unceasing  obstructions  in  a  pastor's  way. 
They  shut  against  him  a  multitude  of  outward  doors ; 
and  they  more  thoroughly  exclude  him  from  that 
heart  -  confidence  without  which  all  his  efforts  and 
purposes  will  be  vain. 

But  in  a  life  and  walk  consentient,  manifesting  the 
kindness  of  heart,  the  wisdom  of  discernment,  and 
the  watchfulness  of  deportment  which  distinguished 
the  mind  of  Christ  and  the  character  of  his  apostles, 
the  Christian  pastor  finds  a  welcome  in  every  habita 
tion.  Every  door  is  opened  to  him.  Entire  confi 
dence  is  reposed  in  him.  He  becomes  the  chosen 
adviser,  the  tender  father,  the  unchanging  friend, 
the  desired  and  beloved  companion  of  every  family. 
All  hearts  are  entwined  around  him.  As  a  father 
among  his  children,  he  moves  among  a  united  flock, 
the  guardian,  the  guide,  the  friend  of  all. 

Many  such  men   have  I  seen,  and  traced  from 


102  THE   OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

youth  to  age  in  the  ministry  of  Christ.  Their  fidelity 
to  him  was  open  and  undeniable.  They  were  men 
of  prayer,  men  of  experience,  men  of  holiness,  men 
of  high  and  controlling  motives.  They  knew  and 
they  taught  his  Word.  They  carried  with  them  his 
example  and  his  influence.  They 'were  honored  with 
a  peaceful  and  fruitful  ministry.  The  ear  that  heard 
them,  blessed  them.  The  eye  that  saw  them,  bore 
witness  to  them.  Their  power  was  undeniable,  and 
every  where  acknowledged.  It  was  not  the  influ 
ence  of  popularity,  as  public  performers,  nor  the 
acknowledgment  of  superior  intellect  or  of  literary 
attainment.  It  was  the  commanding  power  of  unde 
niable  holiness,  disinterestedness,  tenderness,  pure- 
ness,  and  love.  They  were  universally  believed  to 
be  right;  their  judgments  stood  like  a  rock;  their 
wrords,  their  instructions,  were  received  as  unques 
tionable  and  undisputed  truth. 

You  can  not  magnify  the  importance  of  such  an 
instrument  for  the  Christian  ministry;  you  can  not 
enhance  its  actual  attainment  of  happiness,  of  use 
fulness,  of  reverence,  of  reciprocated  love.  They  at 
tend  it  as  a  halo  of  light,  brightening  every  home 
of  life,  and  crowning  the  memory  with  almost  an 
apotheosis  of  grateful  transmission. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  103 

•    *  • 

There  is  no  oilier  relationship  in  life  so  surely 
happy  or  so  abundantly  remunerative.  "My  more 
than  father — my  more  than  father,"  exclaimed  one 
of  the  noblest  of  women  and  wives  whom  I  have 
ever  known,  as,  weeping  with  joy  and  thankfulness, 
she  threw  her  arms  around  her  pastor's  neck,  to 
whom  she  said  she  owed  every  thing  that  a  father 
less,  helpless  child  could  owe  to  a  Christian  pastor's 
care  and  love.  "  My  precious  pastor,  my  ever  con 
stant  friend,  what  would  this  world  have  been  to  me 
without  you,"  said  a  widow,  to  whom  in  affliction 
and  solitude  God  had  been  pleased  to  send  what  she 
called  her  highest  gift  in  that  faithful,  loving  friend: 

Such  tributes  are  not  special  nor  unusual.  They 
follow  the  ministry  of  every  man  who  comes  from 
Christ,  lives  with  Christ,  walks  as  Christ,  every  where 
carries  Christ,  speaks  like  Christ,  and  in  all  his  min 
istry,  in  public  and  in  private,  preaches  not  himself, 
but  Jesus  Christ  his  Lord. 

In  reference  to  this  one  sure  instrument  of  useful 
ness  in  your  pastoral  work,  I  must  say  to  you, "  Covet 
earnestly  the  best  gifts,  but  here  I  show  unto  you  the 
more  excellent  way."  Be  faithful  to  your  Lord,  and 
he  will  make  all  others  faithful  to  you.  "With  this 
undoubting  confidence  in  the  Word  of  God,  this  clear 


104  THE    OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

understanding  of  the  glorious  Gospel  which  it  con 
tains,  this  life  of  personal,  intercessory  prayer,  this 
walk  of  earnest  and  undisputed  fidelity  to  Jesus,  you 
will  be  truly  clad  with  the  whole  armor  of  God,  as  the 
"  great  heart,"  the  defender  and  guide  of  his  chosen 
family,  in  their  pilgrimage  through  grace  to  glory. 

Y.  This  might  seem  to  complete  an  adequate  view 
of  necessary  instruments  for  the  pastor's  work.  But 
there  still  remain  some  smaller  but  very  important 
means  of  usefulness  in  a  pastor's  life,  which  come  in 
connection  with  these,  and  exercise  a  relative  influ 
ence  of  great  value.  Among  these  I  would  refer  to 

a  CONTENTED  HABIT  and  TEMPER  and  UTTERANCE. 

The  importance  of  this  you  can  hardly  magnify. 
I  have  seen  the  best  education  and  intellectual  gifts 
completely  overwhelmed  in  their  exercise  by  a  com 
plaining  and  dissatisfied  spirit. 

The  fundamental  theory  of  our  ministry  is  that 
we  are  consecrated  a  living  sacrifice  to  Christ,  and 
are  no  longer  our  own,  or  at  our  own  disposal.  Our 
whole  lives  belong  to  Jesus.  Wherever  we  are  placed, 
we  are  divinely  placed,  under  a  Providence  which  is 
over  us  as  the  ministers  of  Christ,  with  a  peculiar, 
paternal  care.  The  Lord's  gracious  utterance  to  his 
prophet  may  be  applied  with  equal  truth  to  us, "  Thou 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN    PASTOR.  105 

slialt  go  to  all  that  I  shall  send  thee,  and  whatsoever 
I  command  thee  thou  shalt  speak.  Be  not  afraid ; 
I  am  with,  thee  to  deliver  thee,  saith  the  Lord." 

Our  immediate  location  may  be  by  ecclesiastical 
appointment  or  congregational  election.  But  with 
either  it  is  to  be  for  us,  with  a  clear  perception  that 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  is  heard,  and  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is  to  be  done.  The  spirit  of  contentment  and 
thankfulness  becomes  the  response  of  our  heart  to 
the  word  of  the  Lord  concerning  us.  Certainly  some 
scenes  for  our  ministry  are  hard  and  trying ;  but 
they  are  the  Lord's  places,  and  somebody  must  fill 
them.  And  if  we  are  called  and  appointed  to  them, 
they  are  as  appropriate  to  us  as  to  others. 

For  myself,  I  have  been  singularly  overruled  and 
disappointed  in  the  arrangement  of  my  places  of 
ministry  all  my  way  through.  The  places  which  I 
desired  and  sought  have  never  been  opened  to  me. 
I  have  been  successively  sent  to  places  to  which  my 
tastes  were  repugnant,  and  unexpectedly  removed 
from  places  in  which  I  had  become  contented  and 
attached.  Thus  the  Lord  is  pleased  often  to  remove 
us  from  place  to  place,  "  from  vessel  to  vessel,  lest 
our  taste  remain  in  us."  And  yet  I  have  never  failed 
to  find,  in  subsequent  experience,  that  the  Lord's 

E2 


106  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

choice  was  the  best  choice;  and  the  move  which  I 
had  dreaded  has  been  made  graciously  to  open  for 
me  a  happy,  I  might  say,  a  still  happier  home. 

I  gave  up  the  wealth  of  earth  to  preach  the  Sav 
iour's  Gospel ;  and  when  I  began  that  sacred  work, 
in  this  world's  goods  I  was  poor  enough.  When  I 
was  settled  in  my  first  charge  I  had  ten  dollars  in 
my  possession,  and  that  was  borrowed.  Through  my 
whole  early  ministry,  I  knew  much  of  the  restraints 
of  narrow  means  of  living.  I  have  had  my  full  share 
of  persecutions  and  hostilities.  I  know  enough,  in 
my  personal  experience,  of  the  peculiar  trials  of  the 
ministry.  But  I  also  know  much  of  the  unspeakable 
happiness  of  serving  Jesus  in  his  own  appointed 
places,  in  this  sacred  work,  with  contentment  and 
thanksgiving.  And  I  must  press  this  thought  upon 
you,  that,  as  an  instrument  of  influence  and  useful 
ness  with  others,  we  need  always  a  contented  and 
cheerful  temper.  With,  this,  though  we  are  poor,  we 
may  make  many  rich.  A  cheerful  heart  doeth  good 
like  a  medicine. 

What  a  blessing  such  a  pastor  brings  to  the  house 
of  sorrow,  to  the  chamber  of  sickness,  to  the  abode 
of  burdens  and  distress !  His  "  countenance  sharp- 
eneth"  the  hope,  the  patience,  the  endurance  of  all. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  107 

He  comes  every  where  as  a  fulfillment  of  joy.  His 
visits  are  anticipated  with  delight.  All  rise  up  to 
call  him  blessed.  The  children  and  the  "  little  ones" 
cling  around  him  as  a  friend  whom  they  love.  All 
loving  kindness,  goodness,  and  truth  are  the  sponta 
neous  radiance  from  the  character  and  life  of  such 
a  man.  In  his  path  every  valley  is  exalted,  and  ev 
ery  hill  is  made  low ;  the  crooked  things  become 
straight,  and  the  rough  places  smooth.  It  is  a  pleas 
ure  to  contemplate  the  influence  and  the  results  of 
such  a  course. 

But  follow  the  history  of  a  discontented,  complain 
ing  man.  What  an  unwholesome,  repulsive  miasma 
spreads  around  him  !  He  can  not  be  desired  nor 
longed  for  nor  tolerated  but  by  those  who  are  more 
truly  the  imitators  of  a  mild  and  gentle  Saviour  than 
he.  He  may  know  all  books  and  all  languages ;  he 
may  be,  in  his  own  estimation,  "  wiser  than  Daniel," 
and  really  "  prouder  than  Lucifer ;"  he  may  be  an 
adept  in  all  conversation  and  all  culture ;  but  none 
desire  him,  and  every  place  in  which  his  ministry 
is  appointed  and  exercised  becomes  more  really  dis 
contented  than  he. 

Such  a  man  occurs  to  my  mind.  He  was  talented, 
educated,  and  outwardly  well  prepared.  But  he  had 


108  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

no  aptitude  of  personal  conformity  to  appointed  con 
ditions,  and  lie  has  rolled  and  tumbled  through  the 
Church,  from  one  inferior  place  to  another  still  more 
so,  until  in  age  he  seems  likely  to  have  no  home  open 
to  him  in  any  part  of  the  Lord's  work  on  earth. 
He  asked  me  one  day  the  reason  for  this.  He  said, 
"  I  preach  the  same  truth  as  you.  "Why  is  my  preach 
ing  useless  ?"  We  were  near  a  butcher's  stall  filled 
with  a  stock  of  most  attractive  meat.  "Why  can 
not  you  eat  that  meat,  so  nicely  cut  up,  and  looking 
so  clean  1"  I  replied.  "Why,  it  is  not  cooked," 
he  said.  "That  is  exactly  the  point,"  I  answered. 
"  That  which  is  wanting  in  all  your  work  is  cooking — 
adaptation  to  the  wants  and  condition  of  the  people 
to  whom  you  are  sent.  Your  meat  is  nicely  cut  up 
and  divided,  but  it  is  not  cooked."  It  is  a  faithful, 
sympathizing,  pastoral  ministry  which  alone  can  make 
our  public  discourses  really  available,  and  prepare 
the  food  for  the  adequate  nourishment  of  the  people 
whom  we  are  sent  to  feed. 

John  Newton  once  went  to  hear  a  very  critical 
and  accurate  preacher ;  and  when  asked  by  him  how 
he  liked  his  discriminating  analysis,  answered,  "  One 
great  distinction  you  seemed  to  have  forgotten — the 
difference  between  bones  and  meat." 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  109 

Now  take  these  important  INSTRUMENTS  for  your 
pastoral  ministry,  and  go  out  with  them  to  your  work : 
Scriptural,  evangelical,  prayerful,  exemplary,  cheer 
ful,  contented,  conforming  to  the  tastes  and  habits 
of  others,  with  a  loving,  dignified  accommodation. 
Eating  that  which  is  set  before  you — grateful  for 
the  hospitality  of  all ;  as  open  to  the  poor  as  to  the 
rich ;  despising  not  the  low  degree ;  doing  all  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  he  may  be  glorified  in 
you.  Thus  he  will  make  for  you  every  lodging-place 
a  Bethel,  every  host  a  Gains,  every  wilderness  a  gar 
den,  in  every  place  Onesiphorus  and  his  house  re 
freshing  you,  not  ashamed  of  your  chain.  Be  holy, 
faithful,  happy,  in  your  appointed  work,  and  you  will 
find  households  of  faithful,  happy  ones  around  you, 
ministering  to  all  your  wants,  grateful  for  all  your 
teaching,  blessing  you  in  your  arrival,  thanking  you 
in  your  departure,  recalling  you  with  pleasure,  every 
where  enlarging  the  circle  of  your  prayer,  and  their 
supplication  to  include  your  names  among  those 
whom  they  remember  before  the  throne  of  grace. 
"Such  honor  have  all  his  saints." 


110  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 


LECTURE  IV. 

October    S,  1873. 


MY  young  friends,  a  consideration  of  the  OBJECT, 
the  QUALIFICATIONS,  and  the  INSTEUMENTS  of  the  Chris 
tian  pastor  demanded  in  the  nature  and  the  prose 
cution  of  his  work,  leads  me  now  to  ask  your  con 
sideration  of  the  AGENCIES  and  OPPORTUNITIES  which 
are  prepared  for  him. 

The  distinction  which  I  have  made  between  in 
struments  and  agencies  will,  I  think,  be  immediately 
apparent  to  you.  Instruments  or  tools  for  a  work 
man  are  personal  possessions :  things  which  he  brings 
to  his  appointed  work.  Agencies  and  opportunities 
are  characteristics  of  his  appointed  field  of  labor, 
whatever  it  may  be :  the  objects  and  the  scenes  upon 
which  and  in  connection  with  which  he  is  to  employ 
his  instruments  and  tools.  He  brings  his  own  in 
struments  to  his  work,  lie  finds  his  agencies  and 
opportunities  provided  for  him.*  His  actual  useful 
ness  and  success  depend  upon  a  proper  improvement 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  Ill 

of  his  agencies  with  Iris  instruments.     An  unskillful 

O 

or  unfurnished  workman  will  often  destroy  the  best 
preparation  for  his  success,  and  a  well-furnished  and 
well-instructed  workman  will  often  achieve  a  brill 
iant  success  with  very  limited  and  unpromising  pro 
visions  in  his  field  of  labor. 

I.  The  first  agency  to  which  I  will  refer  is  PER 
SONAL  VISITATION.  By  this,  I  mean  not  the  occasional 
social  visits  of  a  Christian  gentleman  for  his  own 
comfort  and  pleasure,  promotive  as  they  may  'be  of 
good  fellowship  and  a  friendly  understanding  in  a 
community.  I  refer  to  direct,  designed,  and  earnest 
personal  effort  to  carry  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  to 
every  household,  and  to  every  soul  committed  to  the 
care  of  a  minister  of  Christ. 

I  well  know  the  difficulty  and  the  cost  of  maintain 
ing  the  habit  and  the  power  of  such  a  ministry.  It 
demands  all  the  living  influence  of  true  and  active 
piety  in  a  pastor's  soul ;  all  the  love  for  Jesus  and 
Iris  cause  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  been  pleased 
to  bestow  upon  the  pastor's  heart ;  all  the  real  in 
terest  in  others,  and  love  for  the  souls  for  whom  the 
Saviour  died,  which  can  be  cultivated  in  the  heart 
of  man.  But  of  the  general  demands  and  objects 
which  are  arrayed  before  the  pastor's  view  and  con- 


112  THE    OFFICE    AKD   DUTY 

science,  I  have  already  sufficiently  spoken.  But  the 
value  of  such  an  agency  as  that  of  which  I  now 
speak  it  is  impossible  to  magnify. 

The'  power  of  the  Gospel,  in  its  effective,  spiritual 
ministry,  is  a  personal  power  in  the  individual  soul. 
The  public  preaching  of  the  Gospel  becomes  really 
effectual  only  in  the  extent  to  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  pleased  to  carry  its  divine  teaching,  to  govern  and 
sanctify  the  inward  nature  of  those  who  hear,  with 
his  own  renewing  power.  .But  no  really  faithful 
preacher  can  stop  his  labors  at  this  point  of  applica 
tion.  He  must  know  his  sheep,  and  call  them  by 
name ;  he  must  search  out  his  flock,  and  carry  the 
precious  words  of  divine  compassion  and  invitation 
to  every  house.  His  voice  must  thus  be  heard  by  all. 

I  concede  to  you,  the  labor  of  this  is  extreme. 
The  wear  and  tear  of  nerves  and  affections  is  great. 
The  obstacles  and  impediments  to  success  are  many. 
But  notwithstanding  all  this,  it  remains  a  part  of 
our  appointed  work,  and  an  element  of  an  imparted 
power.  It  is,  indeed,  the  truly  apostolic  pattern  of 
preaching,  "  Daily,  and  in  every  house,  they  ceased 
not  to  teach,  and  to  preach  Jesus  Christ."  And  it  is 
an  invaluable  privilege  to  be  permitted,  and  to  be 
able,  to  carry  it  out  systematically  and  constantly. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  113 

This  bringing  the  Word  of  salvation  and  the  voice 
of  prayer  to  every  house  is  most  important  in  its 
direct  effect  upon  the  family  we  visit.  It  opens  a 
welcome  to  our  whole  ministry;  it  entwines  the  af 
fectionate  sympathy  of  every  heart  around  the  per 
son  and  character  of  the  minister  of  Christ ;  it  brings 
to  each  home,  as  their  nearest  and  most  cherished 
friend,  the  messenger  of  divine  salvation ;  it  presents 
him  as  one  who  understands  and  has  experienced  the 
power  and  the  reality  of  this  gift  of  God.  And 
when  such  a  ministry  has  been  faithfully  fulfilled, 
it  must  leave  behind  it  a  blessing  from  God  upon 
the  souls  to  whom  this  precious  message  has  been  so 
simply  and  affectionately  presented. 

Such  a  personal  visitation  gathers  the  attendance 
and  the  attention  of  all  to  the  public  stated  congre 
gation.  I  have  known  irreligious  families,  living 
wholly  without  a  Sabbath  and  without  God,  thus  won 
by  the  personal  kindness  of  the  minister  to  a  con 
stant  attendance  upon  the  public  worship  of  the 
church,  and  to  an  abiding  acceptance  of  the  Gospel. 
The  public  instruction  of  the  man  whom  they  have 
learned  to  love  becomes  invested  for  them  with  an 
attraction  and  a  power  which  they  have  never  found 
before. 


114  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

The  effect  of  this  personal  work  upon  your  own 
public  ministry  becomes  most  important.  It  fur 
nishes  you  with  practical  material  for  preaching ;  it 
opens  individual  and  social  necessities  for  a  special 
application  of  the  AYord  of  God ;  it  transforms  your 
general  address  to  a  distinct  personal  message ;  it 
converts  the  painted  flame  and  glow  of  a  mere  lect 
ure  or  harangue  to  the  living  fire  of  converting  truth, 
around  which  the  shivering  and  perishing  will  learn 
and  love  to  gather,  that  they  may  be  warmed  and 
filled.  "Come  see  a  man  who  hath  told  me  all 
things  that  ever  I  did"  becomes  the  repeated  form 
upon  many  a  tongue  of  a  similar  conviction. 

You  will  rarely  find  such  a  visit  from  a  truly  sin 
cere  and  friendly  pastor  to  be  rejected  or  under 
valued.  Take  the  instruments  for  your  work  which 
I  have  proposed,  understood  by  you  in  their  use,  tried 
by  you  in  their  experience,  employed  by  you  in  the 
strength  and  love  of  your  present  Saviour,  perse 
vering  and  repeated  in  your  effort,  and  the  Lord 
whom  you  serve  will  always  open  to  you  an  effectual 
door,  and  many  adversaries  to  the  Gospel  will  be  won 
over  to  be  your  chief  friends. 

II.  In  connection  with  this  agency  of  personal  vis 
itation,  you  will  generally  find  a  special  opportunity 


OF   A   CTIKISTIAN   PASTOR.  115 

for  your  reception  providentially  prepared  in  sea 
sons  of  personal  sickness  and  domestic  affliction. 
This  is  another  agency  divinely  prepared.  So  ante 
cedent  to  our  personal  work  for  Jesus  are  his  pro 
visions  for  us,  that  our  habitual  experience  discovers 
a  way  already  prepared  before  us.  Often  when  a 
hesitating,  timorous  man  delays  what  seems  to  him  a 
real  call  of  personal  duty,  some  unexpected  opening, 
exhibiting  a  family  waiting  anxiously  for  an  expected 
visit,  will  fill  him  with  shame  in  a  consciousness  of 
his  neglect.  There  are  always  open  doors  around 
us,  and  our  duty  is  to  seek  them,  and  take  advantage 
of  them  all. 

When  personal  sickness  lays  by  the  active  and  the 
careless,  or  calls  the  child  of  God  to  bear  the  rod,  and 
hear  him  who  hath  appointed  it,  there  is  a  very  man 
ifest  opening  for  our  effort  and  our  success.  Our  most 
precious  seasons  of  approach  to  others  will  be  when 
the  world  has  been  thus  shut  out,  and  there  is  time 
and  opportunity  to  deliver  our  message  in  the  Sav 
iour's  name.  All  our  appointed  instruments  of  im 
pression  then  come  into  use.  "We  must  be  direct  in 
our  appeal,  free  and  full  in  our  utterance  of  the  mes 
sage  of  abounding  grace  and  divine  forgiveness.  We 
go  to  offer  the  fullness  of  a  Saviour's  merit  and  love 


116  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

to  the  acceptance  of  a  waiting  soul  prepared  to  hear 
it.  And  we  can  not  err  on  the  side  of  sincere  ear 
nestness  and  affectionate  encouragement  to  the  weary, 
the  wretched,  and  the  lost.  We  can  never  magnify 
the  blessings  we  may  be  permitted  to  receive  in  an 
assiduous  and  faithful  ministry  for  Christ. 

In  one  of  my  regular  circuits  of  pastoral  work,  I 
passed  the  door  of  a  household  with  whom  I  was 
quite  familiar,  but  of  whom  I  had  heard  nothing  of 
particular  distress.  Four  physicians'  carriages  were 
standing  at  the  door.  I  stopped  to  ask  the  cause. 
The  father  of  the  family  had  been  suddenly  found 
the  subject  of  a  virulent  cancer  in  the  face,  the  reality 
of  which  he  had  never  suspected.  The  consultation 
determined  that  no  medical  power  could  rescue  or 
restore  him.  And  he  was  left  to  meet  an  inevitable 
death. 

Here  was  my  provided  opportunity.  I  called  im 
mediately  after  the  departure  of  the  physicians,  as  the 
messenger  of  divine  teaching  and  encouragement. 
Four  months  of  wasting  and  exhaustion  I  witnessed 
in  an  unceasing  progress.  But  a  most  precious  prep 
aration  of  grace  and  divine  goodness  I  was  permitted 
also  to  see.  The  disease  was  fearful— but  the  grace 
was  most  abundant.  He  lived  from  week  to  week  in 


OF   A    CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK.  117 

agony.  But  lie  was  led  on  from  joy  to  joy  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  When  I  supposed  him  near  the  close 
of  his  career,  though  still  maintaining  conversation 
with  entire  intelligence,  he  said  to  me, "  Oh,  do  you 
not  see  him  ?" — pointing  his  finger  over  the  foot  of 
his  bed — "do  you  not  see.  him?"  "See  whom?" 
I  said.  "  Oh,  Jesus.  There  he  is ;  there  he  stands. 
How  glorious !  He  has  come  for  me — I  shall  go  with 
him."  I  could  see  nothing  peculiar  in  the  direction 
to  which  he  pointed.  But  his  whole  pain-worn,  half- 
eaten  countenance  was  filled  with  joy.  That  night  in 
his  sleep  he  departed  without  a  pang,  and  without  the 
consciousness  of  the  friends  who  were  watching  around 
him.  Other  similar  scenes  I  have  also  seen  in  differ 
ent  portions  of  my  ministry,  giving  incidental  illus 
trations  at  least  of  the  precious  words  of  our  Lord, 
"  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself." 

Two  years'  constant  pastoral  visiting  to  a  faithful 
"  daughter  of  the  Lord  Almighty,"  departing  in  a 
lingering  consumption,  were  closed,  when  vocal  speech 
had  gone,  by  a  most  affectionate  testimony  of  gratitude 
in  the  very  night  of  her  departure.  Drawing  my  ear 
closely  to  her  lips,  with  her  wrasted  arm  around  my 
neck,  she  whispered,  "  Jesus  will  bless  you  for  all  that 
you  have  done  for  me,  and  all  that  you  have  told  me 


118  THE   OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

of  him.    You  can  never  know  in  this  world  how  much 
I  have  loved  you." 

Such  providences  as  these  I  call  peculiar  prepara 
tions  for  our  work.  I  consider  them  a  special  agency, 
of  which  we  are  to  take  advantage.  I  could  employ 
many  hours  in  relating  to  you  similar  illustrations 
which  have  been  graciously  given  to  me.  I  present 
them  to  you  for  your  guidance.  Be  ready  for  them. 
Expect  them.  Take  advantage  of  them.  Go  out  for 
Jesus,  sympathizing,  intelligent,  experienced  messen 
gers  of  his  Word,  with  the  glad  tidings  of  a  Saviour's 
work  complete  and  power  divine;  of  a  divine  for 
giveness,  absolute  and  free.  Be  patient.  Be  cheer 
ful.  Be  encouraging.  Be  sympathizing.  Let  the 
very  tones  of  your  voice  be  a  comfort  and  a  blessing. 
Let  your  whole  manner  be  simple,  real,  earnest,  hope 
ful.  Strive  to  establish  an  entire  confidence,  com 
munion,  between  yourselves  and  those  whom  you 
visit.  An  untender,  unsympathizing  manner  can 
have  no  good  effect.  A  subservient,  cringing  manner 
can  have  no  more.  "VYe  shrivel  up,  corrugated,  before 
a  hard  and  cold  address.  We  doubt  the  reality  of  a 
whining,  sing-song  one.  Go,  in  the  spirit  of  your 
divine  Master,  dignified  but  gentle;  knowing  what 
you  say,  and  what  to  say  ;  and  he  will  bless  you.  If 


OF   A   CHKISTIAN   PASTOE.  119 

you  assume  a  lofty,  pretentious  style — scolding,  rebuk 
ing,  censuring— you  will  do  no  good ;  you  will  shut 
against  yourselves  every  door  which  he  may  open. 

This  is  a  very  important  subject  for  you  to  consider. 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  learn  how  to  deliver  your  Lord's 
message  simply,  freely,  positively,  to  suffering  souls. 
We  do  not  go  in  this  divinely  prepared  agency  to 
offer  a  conditional  hope,  or  to  describe  a  way  in  which 
the  human  soul  may  reconstruct  itself.  We  go  to  tell 
to  others  that  which  our  Lord  has  told  to  us ;  and  the 
truth  and  power  of  which  he  has  made  us  to  under 
stand  and  feel.  Divine  inspiration  has  taught  us,  and 
made  us  partakers  of  the  heavenly  benefit.  The  mes 
sage  to  a  lost  sinner  is  not,  God  will  save  you,  if  you 
obey  and  love  him.  It  is,  God  has  saved  you;  be 
lieve,  trust,  and  love  him.  It  is  a  salvation,  accom 
plished  and  perfect,  by  the  power  and  in  the  fullness 
of  an  almighty  Saviour,  which  you  are  sent  to  pro 
claim.  The  real  power  of  the  ministry  is  in  the  sim 
ple,  believing  delivery  of  this  message,  and  our  free 
offer  of  this  salvation. 

We  go  to  tell  others  that  which  God  has  taught  us 
— intelligence  of  inestimable  worth  to  all  who  are 
ready  to  hear  and  to  receive  it.  It  is  the  declaration 
of  God's  own  reconciliation,  and  of  man's  complete 


120  THE   OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

salvation,  in  the  obedience  and  death  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  We  present  gracious  invitations,  which 
are  and  must  be  either  gratefully  accepted  or  rebel- 
liously  rejected  by  all  who  hear,  and  that  at  once. 
The  alternative  is  Christ  or  no  Christ — life  or  death. 
"We  can  not  say  that  the  message  may  not  be  again 
repeated.  But  so  far  as  each  present  message  goes, 
there  is  the  result  and  the  end. 

I  was  once  called  late  in  the  evening  to  visit  a 
young  man  at  a  boarding-house  in  Philadelphia,  He 
was  an  officer  in  the  United  States  Army,  returning 
from  the  Florida  War,  on  his  way  to  his  Northern 
home.  He  was  extremely  ill.  I  took  him  by  the 
hand,  and  told  him  of  this  work  and  love  of  Jesus, 
this  great  salvation  and  victory  for  him,  in  the  pre 
cious  blood  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  started  from  me 
with  a  scream.  "  Oh,  do  not  talk  to  me  about  that. 
That  was  just  what  my  mother  used  to  tell  me;  but 
I  would  not  hear  her.  It  is  too  late — too  late  now." 
I  tried  in  vain  to  persuade  him  to  hear  me.  I  knelt 
by  his  side,  and  prayed  to  that  gracious  Saviour  who 
alone  could  hear  and  bless.  The  young  man  turned 
his  face  away  from  me,  and  covered  his  head,  and 
cried  aloud,  "  Oh,  go  away — leave  me.  There  is  no 
hope  now."  It  was  midnight,  and  I  retired.  At 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  121 

daylight  I  was  there  again.  The  crape  upon  the 
bell-pull  told  me  that  all  was  over.  The  nurse  said 
he  was  quiet  till  his  departure,  and  said  no  more. 
God  only  could  tell  if  the  message  had  been  effect 
ive  through  his  abounding  grace. 

But  thus  we  go  forth,  like  the  visitor  in  the  Cata 
combs,  with  this  single  thread  in  our  hands.  If  we 
lose  this,  all  is  lost.  "We  have  no  other  message. 
We  can  not  go  beyond  the  Word  of  the  Lord  to  say 
less  or  more.  Each  visit  may  be  our  last  opportunity. 
We  are  always  standing  on  the  ]ine  between  two 
worlds.  Eternity  may  hang  upon  the  single  message 
which  we  now  deliver.  What  an  agency  is  this ! 
What  an  opportunity !  What  a  responsibility  is  in 
volved  in  it!  Every  moment  and  every  word  be 
comes  increasingly  precious;  and  a  loving,  experi 
enced  pastor  will  deeply  feel  the  solemnity  of  the 
crisis,  and  of  his  fidelity  therein. 

III.  But  this  providential  agency  extends  far  be 
yond  occasional  seasons  of  personal  sickness  and  do 
mestic  affliction.  Our  whole  field  of  appointed  labor 
is  a  special  providence  for  us.  We  are  selected  mes 
sengers  from  God  wherever  we  are  sent.  There  is 
some  particular  reason  why  we  have  been  individu 
ally  directed  to  the  particular  community  in  which, 

F 


122  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTF 

by  a  power  beyond  our  own  choice,  our  lot  has  been 
cast.  It  is  a  very  low  and  inadequate  view  of  our 
ministry  for  Christ  to  consider  it  in  any  sense  a  mere 
chosen  profession,  the  duties  and  advantages  of  which 
are  a  subject  of  our  own  will,  and  of  our  personal 
selection.  I  have  not  been  willing  to  esteem  myself 
less  personally  or  distinctly  sent  to  a  particular  com 
munity,  or  removed  from  one  place  to  another  for 
my  appointed  work,  than  the  first  generation  of  the 
apostles,  or  the  present  missionaries  of  the  Gospel  to 
a  foreign  land.  The  reality  of  our  power  and  use 
fulness  in  this  great  work  is  very  essentially  bound 
up  with  our  consciousness  of  this  divine  appointment 
and  divine  message.  The  whole  aspect  and  peculiar 
distinctions  of  the  persons  to  whom  our  ministry  has 
been  directed  are  really  for  us  a  providential  ar 
rangement,  especially  prepared  for  our  work ;  and 
we  must  endeavor  to  conform  our  efforts  for  others, 
and  our  own  tastes,  habits,  and  contentment,  amid 
the  duties  of  our  calling,  to  the  facts  which  seem  so 
clearly  to  indicate  the  will  of  God  concerning  us. 

The  man  in  the  quietness  and  self-control  of  a  re 
tired,  rural,  country  place,  where  he  may  command 
his  own  time,  and  occupy  himself  in  his  work  accord 
ing  to  his  own  choice  and  habits,  in  the  calm  routine 


OF   A   CIIIttSTIAN   TASTOK.  123 

of  an  unnoticed  life ;  and  the  same  man  in  a  crowd 
ed,  bustling  city,  where  he  is  the  subject  of  laws, 
habits,  conveniences,  beyond  his  own  will  or  possible 
power  to  influence,  becomes,  if  he  succeed  in  his 
work,  really  two  different  men.  Many  a  one,  whose 
youthful  bark  was  first  launched  upon  the  tranquil 
surface  of  an  inland  lake,  where  all  motion  was  mod 
erate  and  peaceful,  and  the  whole  circumference  en 
circling  him  was  within  his  own  sight,  when  he  be 
comes  tossed  upon  the  unresting  surges  of  a  sea  which 
he  has  no  power  to  control — when  his  own  safety  or 
ability  to  get  through  is  often  the  one  question  which 
absorbs  his  mind — looks  back  with  an  intense  desire 
to  be  once  more  as  he  was  in  former  days,  and  to  feel 
once  more  as  he  felt  when  he  \vas  not  the  slave  of  an 
ungovernable  pressure,  but  the  ruler  of  an  unbroken 
repose. 

We  can  never  get  through  this  variety  of  experi 
ence  creditably  or  happily,  usefully  or  honorably,  un 
less  we  can  realize  the  fact  that  we  are  not  our  own ; 
our  place  and  circumstances  of  ministry  are  not  un 
der  our  own  direction ;  but  as  .it  is  our  commanding, 
unchanging  decision  in  every  thing  thoroughly  to 
obey  the  will  of  our  divine  Lord.  That  gracious  Will 
holds  us  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand ;  fixes  the  bounds 


124:  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

of  our  habitation ;  gives  us  the  borders  of  our  dwell 
ing  ;  and  teaches  us  in  his  own  way  the  special  mes 
sage  which  we  are  to  deliver,  amid  these  agencies  of 
his  own  devising. 

We  are  thus,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
life,  the  messengers  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  to  our 
fellow-men ;  whether  to  the  quiet  and  comparatively 
orderly  population  of  a  rural  district,  or  to  the  driv 
ing,  swelling  crowd  of  a  populous  city ;  to  the  com 
paratively  limited  knowledge  of  the  families  of  the 
poor,  or  to  the  assuming  or  real  distinctions  and  ele 
vations  of  the  educated  and  the  rich.  We  are  every 
where  the  selected  and  appointed  ministers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  to  be  contented  to  be  in 
the  world,  as  he  was  in  the  world. 

The  one  primary,  fundamental  object  of  our  min 
istry,  never  to  be  forgotten,  is  the  promotion  of  the 
personal  glory  of  our  divine  Lord.  The  final,  satis 
fying  accomplishment  of  our  controlling  desire  will 
be  the  establishment  of  his  authority  and  the  glory 
of  his  kingdom.  In  order  to  this,  and  for  the  at 
tainment  of  this,  our  duty,  our  absorbing  purpose,  is 
to  be  the  individual  conversion  of  the  souls  of  men 
to  him,  in  whom  alone  there  is  life  for  the  perishing 
and  the  lost.  We  shall  unceasingly  seek  their  edifi- 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  125 

cation  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  him ;  and  their 
walk  in  newness  and  holiness  of  life,  under  the  guid 
ance  of  his  Spirit,  and  in  the  pattern  and  beauty  of 
his  example.  For  this  great  work  we  are  on  earth 
among  the  living.  For  this  we  have  solemnly  given 
ourselves  to  Jesus  as  our  Lord.  Renouncing  all  other 
authority  and  will,  we  look  to  him  to  send  whom  he 
will  send ;  to  send  where  he  will  send ;  and  to  ac 
complish  his  gracious  work  in  his  own  way.  And 
whether  our  individual  field  be  laid  out  among  the 
rich  or  the  poor,  the  elevated  or  the  low,  the  educated 
or  the  ignorant,  the  single  purpose  of  our  mind  and 
choice  will  be  to  glorify  Jesus,  and  to  work  for  him 
alone. 

The  appointment  of  our  scene  of  labor  is  the 
providence  of  that  Great  Ruler  who  holdeth  the  stars 
in  his  right  hand.  You  will  allow  me  to  illustrate 
the  apparent  directions  of  this  providence  by  some 
occurrences  in  my  own  experience.  At  twenty-one 
years  of  age  and  a  few  weeks  over,  I  left  my  New 
England  home  in  the  character  of  a  preacher  — 
the  world  before  me  and  Providence  my  guide. 
Four  weeks  afterward  I  found  myself  settled  as  a 
pastor  in  a  church  in  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  then  the  business  suburb  of  the  city  of 


126  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Washington.  It  was  a  clmrcli  of  which  I  had  never 
heard,  and  in  which  not  a  single  individual  was 
known  to  me.  They  accidentally  heard  me,  without 
my  knowledge.  Their  aged  pastor  left  them  but  the 
Sunday  previous,  and  pleasantly  said  to  them, "  If  that 
young  man  had  an  II  in  his  name,  he  would  be  the 
very  thing  for  you."  They  took  me  at  his  word,  and 
thus  made  me  the  thing.  It  was  a  largely  intelli 
gent  and  cultivated  audience.  I  had  written  very 
little.  My  habit  of  preaching,  which  I  had  acquired 
in  a  revival  at  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  from  whence  I 
had  gone  within  the  previous  month,  wras  entirely 
extemporaneous,  and  was  sometimes  very  trying. 
But  I  could  not  avoid  the  conclusion  that  I  had 
been  sent  to  tins  place,  and  I  .could  not  cherish  the 
thought  of  flinching  or  running.  It  proved  the 
opening  to  my  whole  life's  work,  and  gave  me  in 
the  very  morning  of  my  youth  the  opportunity  of 
an  extended  acquaintance  which  I  could  hardly  have 
expected  to  attain.  A  large  portion  of  the  members 
of  Congress  at  that  time  boarded  in  Georgetown. 

It  was  here  that  an  incident  occurred  which  I  have 
seen  in  print,  and  to  which  I  will  therefore  refer. 
On  one  Sunday  I  went  as  usual  to  my  church,  with 
my  feeble  preparation  for  the  pulpit.  It  was  during 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  127 

the  session  of  Congress,  and,  to  my  amazement,  a 
large  number  of  public  men  were  there,  many  of 
whom  were  personal  friends  of  my  father.  I  was 
terrified  beyond  control  at  the  sight,  and  my  gracious 
Lord  left  me  to  my  own  pride  for  my  chastening.  I 
forgot  my  text  and  my  whole  subj  ect.  And  after  blun 
dering  on  for  perhaps  ten  minutes  in  a  most  profuse 
perspiration,  overwhelmed  with  confusion,  I  sudden 
ly  closed  the  service  and  dismissed  the  congregation. 
Walking  home,  bowed  down  with  my  mortification, 
my  wife,  a  daughter  of  Bishop  Griswold,  said  to  me : 
"Now  do  give  up  this  attempt  at  extemporaneous 
preaching.  You  know  my  father  said  it  wo'uld  al 
ways  be  desultory  and  unconnected.  You  will  nev 
er  succeed  in  it,  I  fear."  I  replied,  "  I  will  never 
give  it  up.  This  very  occasion  has  made  me  de 
termined.  It  can  be  acquired,  and,  by  the  Lord's 
help,  I  will  acquire  it."  Thirty  years  after  that,  I 
saw  Mr.Yan  Bnren,  who  was  one  of  my  distinguished 
hearers  on  that  clay,  in  St.  George's  Church  in  the  City 
of  New  York.  He  came  up  to  the  chancel  to  speak 
to  me,  with  his  friend  Judge  Yanderpoel,  whom  he 
was  vjsiting.  Referring  to  some  things  past,  I  said, 
"  Do  you  remember  that  day  of  my  dreadful  failure 
in  preaching,  in  Georgetown,  in  the  beginning  of  my 


128  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

ministry  ?"  "  Oh  yes,"  said  he ;  "  but  you  have  never 
failed  since." 

My  two  years'  ministry  in  Georgetown  opened  to 
me  a  country  field  of  labor  in  a  very  rich  section  of 
Southern  Maryland.  I  was  called  to  a  parish  which 
I  had  never  heard  of,  through  some  persons  who  had 
heard  me  in  Georgetown,  resident  in  that  country. 
The  people  had  the  reputation  of  great  wealth  and 
of  fearful  dissipation.  They  were  the  owners  of  near 
three  thousand  slaves.  The  opening  was  so  unsought 
and  providential  that  I  determined  to  accede  to  their 
request.  An  older  minister,  who  knew  the  place, 
said  to  me :  "  Well,  Tyng,  I  will  give  you  six  months 
there.  They  will  never  stand  you"  I  passed  with 
them  six  happy  years ;  and  when,  most  unwillingly, 
I  left  them  to  remove  to  Philadelphia,  they  gathered 
around  me  with  the  appeal,  "  Why  do  you  leave  us  ? 
You  might  spend  your  life  with  us.  We  will  do  any 
thing  for  you ;  we  shall  never  get  another  minister 
that  we  shall  like  so  much."  And  yet,  by  the  help 
of  my  gracious  Lord,  I  did  not  truckle  to  their  hab 
its  of  life.  I  preached  in  their  taverns  and  from 
house  to  house,  wherever  I  could  find  a  room  or  a 
gathering  for  the  purpose. 

Of  some  of  rny  early  sermons  to  this  people  in  one 


OF   A   CIIETSTIAN   PASTOK.  129 

of  the  taverns,  I  will  repeat  to  you  my  texts.  Isaiah 
iii.,  9  :  "  The  show  of  their  countenance  doth  witness 
against  them;  and  they  declare  their  sin  as  Sodom, 
they  hide  it  not.  Woe  unto  their  soul,  for  they  have 
rewarded  evil  unto  themselves."  Isaiah  v.,  11 :  "  Woe 
unto  them  that  rise  up  early  in  the  morning,  that  they 
may  follow  strong  drink;  that  continue  until  night, 
till  wine  inflame  them.  But  they  regard  not  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  neither  consider  the  operation  of 
his  hands.  Therefore  hell  hath  enlarged  herself,  and 
opened  her  mouth  without  measure :  and  their  glory, 
and  their  multitude,  and  their  pomp,  and  he  that  re- 
joiceth,  shall  descend  into  it."  Ezekiel  xvi.,  49 :  "  Be 
hold,  this  was  the  iniquity  of  Sodom :  pride,  fullness 
of  bread,  and  abundance  of  idleness  was  in  her  and 
in  her  daughters;  therefore  I  took  them  away  as  I 
saw  good." 

There  was  at  first  a  good  deal  of  bustling  and 
some  threats,  under  these  direct  rebukes  of  their  pre 
vailing  sins.  But  I  yielded  nothing.  And  the  com 
plaints  ended,  under  the  counsel  of  an  old  resident, 
who  said :  "You  had  better  let  that  young  man  alone. 
You  will  not  do  much  with  him,  and  you  know  he  is 
right." 

God  gave  me  many  precious  souls  among  that  peo- 
F2 


130  TIIE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

pie,  even  some  who  were  the  most  repulsive  at  the 
beginning.  And  their  kind  remembrance  of  me  has 
been  perpetuated  among  their  children  and  their 
grandchildren,  of  which,  after  the  passage  of  fifty 
years,  I  have  lately  received  a  very  gratifying  expres 
sion  and  evidence. 

I  could  illustrate  this  providential  agency  by  many 
successive  facts  in  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New 
York ;  but  I  have  not  time  nor  space  for  them  here. 
I  trust  you  will  not  deem  it  mere  personal  vanity 
which  leads  me  to  refer  to  these  individual  facts. 
Our  providences  are  all  our  own — and  they  are  often 
very  precious  gifts  of  God.  The  gracious  Lord,  who 
so  wonderfully  prepares  our  way  in  his  w'ork,  must 
have  the  honor  of  all  that  minute  and  gracious  care 
with  which  he  directs  our  steps.  But  we  must  not 
be  unmindful  in  its  observation,  nor  silent  in  its  ac 
knowledgment. 

III.  Beyond  these  two  aspects  of  agencies,  prepared 
for  our  work,  there  is  the  agency  of  social  religious 
meetings  of  various  descriptions.  These  must  habit 
ually  make  up  an  important  portion  of  our  pastoral 
work  in  every  week.  In  connection  with  our  regular 
Sabbath  work  faithfully  maintained,  they  constitute 
an  indispensable  element  of  success  in  the  fulfillment 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  131 

of  our  responsibility  as  pastors  in  the  Church  of  our 
gracious  Lord. 

These  varied  religious  meetings  are  so  familiar  to 

, 

our  knowledge  in  the  various  churches  of  the  Lord, 
whether  as  conference  or  class  or  prayer  meetings, 
that  I  feel  no  necessity  laid  upon  me  for  an  attempted 
exposition  of  their  character.  I  have  been  familiar 
with  their  usefulness,  and  in  my  various  fields  of 
labor  have  always  desired  to  maintain  them,  as  far  as 
the  providential  circumstances  around  me  would  per 
mit.  In  our  different  fields  of  labor,  there  is  a  great 
difference  in  the  facility  of  establishing  these  social 
meetings,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  sus 
tained. 

But  it  is  habitually  through  them  that  much  of  a 
pastor's  personal  relations  to  the  individual  members 
of  his  flock,  and  his  acquaintance  with  their  religious 
condition  and  necessities,  are  inaugurated  and  made 
available.  A  wise  and  skillful  pastor  will  always 
throw  his  whole  influence  and  mental  attainments 
into  these  openings  for  the  revival  and  prosperity  of 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  among  the  people.  They 
furnish  him  an  opportunity  for  special  personal  in 
struction,  for  the  discrimination  and  correction  of 
local  and  occasional  errors  and  evils,  for  the  cultiva- 


132  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

tion  of  the  special,  personal  fruits  of  practical  relig 
ion,  and  for  familiar  expositions  of  the  Word  of 
God,  for  which  he  can  find  no  time  or  opportunity 
in  the  public  services  of  the  Sabbath. 

These  familiar  meetings  are  the  occasion  for  call 
ing  forth,  for  the  service  of  the  Gospel,  hidden  talent 
and  experience  in  the  minds  of  laymen,  which  may 
be  made  of  great  value  in  the  more  public  work  of 
the  Lord.  When  they  are  thus  faithfully  and  affec 
tionately  sustained  by  the  whole  power  of  the  pas 
tor's  influence  and  personal  aid,  they  are  a  prepara 
tion  for  the  gracious  revivals  in  the  Church,  and  the 
special  gifts  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  with  which  it 
pleases  God/ according  to  his  ^own  will,  to  bless  and 
edify  his  people.  There  is  much  pure  gold  concealed 
by  the  routine  of  earthly  occupation  among  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Church,  which  the  skillful  pastor  may 
thus  bring  forth,  for  the  Saviour's  honor.  It  should 
be  the  desire  of  his  heart  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
might  be  prophets.  A  true  and  faithful  minister  of 
Christ  will  never  cultivate  or  allow  an  unreasonable 
jealousy  of  lay  influence,  nor  fear  the  undue  exalta 
tion  of  those  whom  God  hath  called  and  blessed. 

Not  long  since  I  was  present  at  the  public  worship 
of  two  churches  of  different  names  on  the  Sabbath, 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOE.  133 

in  neither  of  which  did  I  hear  a  distinct  or  edifying 
Gospel  message.  In  the  evening  I  went  to  the  Meth 
odist  congregation,  where,  in  the  absence  of  the  ap 
pointed  pastor,  a  young  local  preacher  was  officiating. 
From  him  I  heard  a  simple,  faithful,  precious  sermon 
on  the  priesthood  of  Jesus,  which  filled  me  with 
thankfulness  and  joy.  At  the  close  of  the  worship,  I 
went  up  to  the  young  man,  and  thanked  him  for  his 
very  acceptable  service.  He  replied,  "  Yon  do  not 
know  me,  but  I  know  you  well.  You  have  been  aw 
fully  in  my  way  to-night."  I  said, "  I  thought  so,  my 
dear  young  friend,  by  the  way  in  which  yon  have 
been  firing  through  me  in  your  sermon.  Bless  the 
Lord,  that  he  gives  you  grace  to  speak  so  truly  and  so 
usefully  to  his  people."  In  this  lay  effort,  you  should 
be  always  glad.  You  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
assumption  or  exaltation  of  these  services.  If  they 
are  likely  to  tread  upon  your  heels,  let  it  excite  you 
to  new  efforts  to  keep  your  undisputed  place  as  lead 
ers  in  the  real  work  of  the  Lord. 

IY.  I  pass  to  a  fourth  agency,  which  tfee  Lord  has 
prepared  for  every  faithful  pastor  in  his  Church.  I 
mean  the  care  and  the  cultivation  of  the  youth  of 
his  flock.  The  possibility  of  bringing  religious  truth 
effectually  to  the  mind  and  acceptance  of  children, 


134  THE   OFFICE   AND    DUTY 

and  the  bringing  of  children,  in  a  real  experience  of 
its  power,  to  the  knowledge  of  a  Saviour,  and  to  an 
intelligent  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  of  the 
Christian  household,  has  been  an  attainment  of  the 
present  generation  of  the  Church.  I  ought,  indeed, 
more  properly  and  truly  to  say,  has  been  a  gracious 
gift  and  revelation  to  the  Church  in  our  time  and 
our  observation. 

We  are  in  a  period  of  divine  teaching  and  govern 
ment,  in  which  a  very  large  proportion,  perhaps  even 
a  majority,  of  the  accessions  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
are  among  the  children  of  the  household :  "  The 
feeble  one  is  as  David ;  and  the  lame  taketh  the 
prey."  This  has  been  to  me  a  fact,  in  my  observa 
tion  and  experience,  of  the  deepest  interest.  I  com 
menced  my  ministry  with  little  opportunity  for  this 
observation.  Our  old  New  England  education  was 
one  of  law  and  duty,  not  of  privilege  and  encour 
agement.  The  right  thing  was  presented  as  obliga 
tory,  not  attractive.  The  fear  of  fanaticism,  and  of 
the  hazardous  exaltation  of  youth  and  ignorance,  was 
a  prevailing  feeling.  We  were  taught  in  our  child 
hood  a  dry  and  technical  catechism,  the  very  terms 
of  which  it  was  impossible  to  understand.  But  the 
conversion  of  children,  their  real  turning,  in  heart 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN    PASTOK,  135 

and  life,  to  the  love  and  service  of  Jesus,  would  have 
been  almost  esteemed  an  impertinence,  or  a  whim 
not  to  be  allowed  or  regarded. 

This  was  not  from  an  unwillingness  that  children 
should  be  really  right  and  good,  but  from  a  fear  of 
violating  old  and  inherited  custom  and  order :  attend 
ed  with  much  possible  evil,  and  with  no  probable  ad 
vantage.  Religious  attention  was  not  directed  to 
Biblical  teaching  for  childhood.  Indeed,  Bibles  were 
so  scarce  and  inaccessible  upon  any  large  basis,  and 
Sunday-schools  were  so  perfectly  unknown,  that  there 
were  comparatively  no  Bibles  within  the  reach  of 
children  for  their  use.  The  first  Bible  which  I  ever 
personally  owned  I  bought  with  my  pocket-money, 
at  eleven  years  of  age,  at  Andover  Academy.  I  then 
gave  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  for  a  small,  plain  En 
glish  Bible,  and  for  which  we  now  pay  less  than  a 
fifth  of  that  sum. 

But  a  remarkable  change  has  taken  place  in  public 
sentiment  and  public  experience.  We  are  now  liv 
ing  to  see  Christian  childhood  made  the  conceded 
right,  the  cherished  anticipation,  perhaps  I  might  say, 
the  habitual  expectation  of  the  Church  of  God. 
Our  Sunday-schools,  in  their  extension  of  familiar 
Biblical  instruction  ;  in  their  connecting  mature  love 


136  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

for  Jesus,  in  kind  and  experienced  teachers,  with  the 
multitudes  of  opening  youthful  minds ;  in  their  unit 
ing  earnest  prayer  and  direct  effort,  by  conversation 
and  instruction,  for  the  immediate,  manifest  conver 
sion  of  children ;  in  their  vast  extension  of  Biblical 
and  evangelical  knowledge  among  the  children  of 
the  Church,  have  been  made  the  instruments  of  in 
troducing  an  entirely  new  era  in  the  relation  of  chil 
dren  to  the  Church  of  God. 

The  effect  has  been  widely  manifested.  The  Gos 
pel,  both  in  its  teaching  and  in  its  requisitions,  has 
been  made  attractive  to  youthful  minds.  Pastors 
and  mature  Christians  have  become  convinced  that 
scarce  any  intelligent  childhood  is  too  young  to  un 
derstand  the  love  of  Jesus ;  the  happiness  of  serving 
him ;  the  evidence  and  experience  of  real  conversion 
to  him  ;  or  to  give  the  clearest  testimony  and  account 
of  their  personal  experience  of  the  transforming  pow 
er  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  its  distinguishing  evidences 
and  results. 

I  have  received  to  the  Lord's  table  whole  classes 
of  youth,  the  precious  seals  to  faithful  teachers'  use 
fulness  and  acceptance  in  this  blessed  work.  I  should 
make  no  period  of  youth  an  objection,  where  I  could 
receive  the  testimony  of  personal  conversion  and 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  137 

Christian  experience  so  clear  and  convincing  as  I 
have  found  it  in  many  hundreds  of  these  fruits  of 
faithful  teaching  in  the  Word  of  God.  Perhaps  the 
youngest  actual  communicant  I  have  received  may 
have  been  ten  years  of  age.  I  should  not  be  will 
ing  to  establish  any  arbitrary  standard  of  age  in  this 
relation.  Some  of  the  most  clear  and  remarkable 
fruits  of  living,  intelligent  faith  in  Jesus  I  have  found 
in  a  literal  infantile  piety. 

More  than  fifty  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  I  have  seen  come  forth  from  this  early  teach 
ing  in  the  precious  truth  and  love  of  a  divine  Sav 
iour.  I  might  say  that  to  me  the  habitual,  normal 
shape  of  a  true  profession  of  Christ  has  almost  estab 
lished  itself  in  this  influence  upon  youth.  While  I 
dare  not  exclude  any  from  personal  hope  whom  the 
Lord  is  pleased  to  teach  and  to  accept,  even  in  the 
last  days  of  age,  my  hope  in  the  ministry,  and  my 
experience  of  its  actual  gathering,  have,  in  a  great 
degree,  settled  down  to  the  youth  of  my  flock,  with 
but  here  and  there  a  person  of  adult  or  advanced 
age,  as  monuments  that  God  has  not  altogether  for 
saken  those  who  have  repelled  his  gracious  offers  in 
their  earlier  age. 

To  carry  out  this  experience  of  the  past  in  my 


138  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

anticipations  of  the  future,  I  cherish  my  opportuni 
ties  to  foster  in  every  way  the  Sunday-schools  of  my 
church.  I  have  always  given  one  half  of  the  Sab 
bath's  public  teaching  expressly  to  the  young,  upon 
subjects  in  the  Scriptures  which  are  adapted  to  in 
terest  them,  and  in  language  which  they  can  readily 
understand.  The  abounding  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
has  remarkably  blessed  my  efforts  in  this  impor 
tant  work,  and  given  me  much  to  comfort  me  in 
all  these  years  of  completed  labor  which  he  has  per 
mitted  me  to  lay  at  his  feet. 

The  whole  effect  of  this  gracious,  providential 
agency  in  our  day  has  been  an  extension  and  en 
largement  of  Christian  knowledge,  and  adaptation  to 
Christian  labor,  which  have  elevated  the  whole  stand 
ard  of  demand  upon  the  preparation,  the  intelligence, 
the  earnestness,  and  the  real  devotion  of  the  Gospel 
ministry.  You  will  start,  in  the  very  opening  of 
your  course,  upon  a  far  higher  plane  of  demand  and 
of  attainment  than  we,  who  have  gone  so  long  before 
you,  imagined  possible  in  the  beginning  of  our  day. 
You  must  cultivate  and  maintain  a  spirit  and  pur 
pose  to  work  up  to  this  rising  standard  of  intelligence 
and  requisition. 

There  is  in  our  time  another  apparent  enlarge- 


OF   A   CIIKISTIAN   PASTOR.  139 

mcnt  of  intellectual  claim,  at  least,  which  is  like 
moonlight,  indefinitely  revealing,  but  giving  no  heat 
and  no  life;  which  becomes  the  area  for  human 
pride,  for  skepticism,  and  indifference  to  all  truth, 
its  inseparable  companion.  This  is  a  flippant,  boast 
ful,  Jehu  temper,  which  overturns  more  carriages 
than  it  safely  drives,  and  injures  far  more  than  it 
has  power  to  guide  to  any  security  or  peace. 

I  advise  you  to  waste  no  time  in  an  attempted 
arguing  with  this  opposing  spirit.  Preach  your 
gracious  Master's  positive  and  unchangeable  mes 
sage,  whether  men  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will 
forbear.  Be  ready  to  give  a  clear  reason  for  your 
own  hope  to  those  who  ask  you  with  meekness  and 
fear.  As  John  Newton  proposed,  fill  your  basket  so 
completely  with  wheat  that  Satan  may  find  no  op 
portunity  to  occupy  it  with  his  chaff.  Anticipate  in 
your  ministry  all  the  arts  and  efforts  of  the  Evil  One, 
by  a  clear,  constant,  earnest  effort :  to  gather  child 
hood  in  a  living  consecration  to  the  Saviour,  and  to 
win  the  youth  to  whom  the  Lord  shall  send  you  to 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  his  "Word. 

Remember  that  adversaries  are  nothing  when  the 
Lord  is  on  your  side.  Paul  gloried  in  the  opposi 
tion  of  a  surrounding  world.  He  called  it  "  an  open 


140  THE    OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

door,"  where  there  were  "many  adversaries."  A 
head-wind  to  the  steamer  enhances  the  power  of  the 
furnace,  and  increases  the  rapidity  and  momentum 
of  the  ship.  With  all  controversy,  as  well  as  with 
out  it,  "  godliness  is  a  great  gain."  David  was  never 
more  happy  than  when  he  could  say  to  Saul :  "  Thy 
servant  kept  his  father's  sheep,  and  there  came  a 
lion  and  a  bear,  and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock. 
And  I  went  after  him,  and  delivered  it  out  of  his 
mouth.  And  when  he  rose  against  me,  I  caught 
him  by  his  beard,  and  smote  him  and  slew  him." 

These  lambs  of  Jesus  are  intrusted  to  your  care. 
"Feed  them,"  he  says.  "Take  care  of  them;  and 
whatsoever  thou  spendest,  when  I  return  I  will  repay 
thee."  Learn  to  feed  them  simply,  appropriately. 
An  old  farmer  said  of  an  unintelligible  preacher 
whom  he  heard, "  When  will  these  men  give  up  try 
ing  to  feed  sheep  out  of  horse-racks."  There  is  noth 
ing  in  the  Bible  which  the  plainest  of  your  hearers 
can  not  understand,  if  you  speak  to  them  in  lan 
guage  which  they  can  comprehend.  Often  the  ap 
parently  least  intellectual  among  the  souls  committed 
to  you,  you  will  find  "mighty  in  the  Scriptures," 
from  an  habitual  feeding  on  the  Word  of  God. 

Deal  with  them  kindly.     Be  never  hasty  or  cross 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  .  141 

in  manner  or  expression.  Remember  it  was  the  sun 
shine,  and  not  the  north  wind,  which  stripped  the 
traveler's  cloak  from  him.  Kind  words,  a  soft  an 
swer,  do  good  like  a  medicine. 

Never  be  impatient.  You  will  have  narrow  necks 
to  fill.  And  the  gentle  dropping  of  the  tea-kettle 
will  be  far  better  and  more  successful  than  the 
swashing  of  the  pump. 

Be  really  loving.  Children  are  quick  detectors 
of  reality  in  feeling.  A  Christ-loving  pastor  will  be 
always  a  child-loving  pastor.  The  real  victory  over 
a  young  heart  is  a  castle  for  your  life. 

Pray  for  the  young.  Pray  with  them  in  language 
perfectly  simple,  in  terms  expressive.  Lay  aside  your 
grandeur,  and  be  yourselves  little  children  with 
them.  They  will  cling  to  the  knees  which  have 
bent  with  them  before  the  throne.  You  can  never 
have  a^happier  ministry  than  this.  And  if  you  are 
truly  faithful  in  it,  you  will  get  in  the  affection  and 
faithfulness  of  the  young  of  your  flock  a  most  abund 
ant  reward. 

The  AGENCIES  which  I  have  thus  specified,  as  pre 
pared  for  the  pastor's  work,  are  but  a  selection  from 
the  number  which  might  be  referred  to.  Such  prep 
arations  present  most  important  openings  for  useful- 


142  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

ness  and  success  in  this  work.  In  personal  visitation, 
in  providential  openings,  in  social  meetings,  in  care 
and  love  for  the  young,  you  will  have  presented  to 
you  a  large  and  most  available  field  for  a  pastor's 
thought  and  care  and  effort.  And  when  you  bring 
into  connection  with  these  prepared  AGENCIES  your 
own  appointed  and  sanctioned  INSTRUMENTS,  your  real 
and  manifest  QUALIFICATIONS,  the  one  great  OBJECT 
of  your  pastoral  work  in  the  conversion  of  souls  to 
CHRIST  will  prosper  in  your  hands,  and  Jesus  your 
Lord  will  be  glorified  in  your  ministry  for  him. 

In  closing  this  special  portion  of  our  proposed 
course,  let  me  again  press  upon  you,  as  the  one  great, 
controlling  fact  in  your  history — you  can  do  nothing 
for  the  Saviour  but  in  the  degree  and  in  the  reality 
in  which  he  dwells  by  his  own  Spirit  in  you.  "  Abide 
in  me,"  is  his  one  discriminating  precept  for  you. 
"He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit.  Separate  from  me,  ye 
can  do  nothing." 

This  great  principle  of  life  and  conduct  we  need 
to  have  impressed  upon  us  every  day  anew.  We 
are  alive  wrhen  we  live  in  Christ.  We  are  mighty 
through  him.  We  can  do  all  things  through  him  that 
strengtheneth  us.  In  his  fellowship,  in  his  light,  with 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  143 

his  voice  encouraging,  his  arm  upholding,  his  love 
soothing,  his  smile  repaying,  we  can  go  through  every 
trial  with  perfect  peace.  We  can  endure  all  losses 
with  abiding,  abounding  joy.  "VVe  can  pass  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  fear  no  evil. 

In  all  your  pastoral  work  carry  this  great  remem 
brance  with  you  :  "  He  will  guide  you  with  his  coun 
sel,  and  afterward  receive  you  to  his  glory."  The 
days  which  you  have  given  to  his  service  on  the  earth, 
never  to  be  forgotten,  shall  bloom  in  an  immortal 
memory — shall  shine  with  an  everlasting  light  in  the 
presence  of  jour  Lord ;  and  shall  live  in  the  grateful 
minds  of  hundreds,  perhaps  of  thousands,  who  have 
been  guarded,  guided,  fed,  and  nurtured  by  you  for 
the  glory  of  him  who  will  be  their  Lord  and  your 
Lord  in  an  eternal  life. 


144  THE    OFFICE   AND    DUTY 


LECTURE   V. 

October   3,  1873. 


MY  young  friends,  I  am  grateful  for  the  attention 
wliicli  you  have  given  to  the  four  lectures  already 
heard.  I  come  now  to  conclude  my  appointed  course 
with  a  consideration  of  the  elements .  of  POWEE,  and 
the  real  ATTAINMENTS  of  the  Christian  pastor;  whose 
faithful  ministry  in  this  important  field  we  have  thus 
far  followed.  These  illustrations  of  actual  power  and 
attainment  I  shall  endeavor  to  place  upon  that  which 
I  should  esteem  a  moderate  ground,  and  within  the 
reach  and  the  enjoyment  of  every  truly  faithful 
young  man  in  the  ministry  of  Christ.  I  shall  con 
fine  myself  to  the  platform  of  thought  and  sugges 
tion  which  we  have  already  laid  out.  We  shall  thus 
be  able  to  bring  the  points  of  our  previous  considera 
tion  to  their  proper  and  adequate  result. 

I.  The  first  element  of  power  in  the  exercise  of 
this  pastoral  ministry  which  I  will  mention  is  the 
simplicity  of  the  truth  of  GOD  which  the  faithful 


OF   A  CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  145 

pastor  carries  with  him.  I  have  adduced  as  the  first 
instrument  to  be  employed  in  his  work,  "  the  Word 
of  God  thoroughly  believed  ;"_  that  is,  really  incor 
porated  and  employed  as  unquestionable  truth  in  the 
mind  and  thought  of  the  man  who  ministers  it. 

The  Christian  pastor's  visit  is  a  provided  place  and 
opportunity  for  instruction,  guidance,  and  individual 
consolation  and  relief  for  those  to  whom  he  ministers. 
It  is  not  a  scene  for  discussion  or  controversy,  or  at 
tempted  argument,  or  any  unsettling  influence  upon 
the  minds  which  he  thus  addresses.  That  is  a  beau 
tiful  divine  description  of  the  pastor's  work  and 
office  in  which  the  prophet  describes  the  appointed 
work  for  him  who  was  to  be  the  Chief  Shepherd  of 
this  chosen  flock :  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is 
upon  me,  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me  to 
preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek.  He  hath  sent 
me  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  lib 
erty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
to  them  that  are  bound;  to  proclaim  the  acceptable 
year  of  the  Lord,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our 
God;  to  comfort  all  that  mourn;  to  appoint  unto 
them  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto  them  beauty 
for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the  gar 
ment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness." 

G 


146  THE   OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

This  is  a  very  precise  and  affecting  description  of 
a  faithful  pastor's  daily  work  in  the  measure  and  de 
gree  in  which  man  can  realize  and  fulfill  it.  In  this 
work  we  are  to  employ  the  inspired  Word  of  God 
as  his  infallible  and  undeniable  truth.  "We  must  be 
familiar  with  its  contents.  "We  must  have  its  instruc 
tions  and  testimonies  laid  up  in  our  memory  and 
mind.  We  must  remember  that  it  is  in  itself  the 
Word  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  life-giving  Word.  The 
power  is  in  the  WOED. 

As  we  sit  by  the  sick,  as  we  strive  to  elevate  the 
sorrowing  and  the  depressed,  as  we  attempt  to  guide 
the  inquiring  or  to  direct  the  anxious,  our  power  is 
not  in  our  own  skill  or  wisdom  or  experience,  but  in 
the  truth  and  testimony  of  the  Word  itself.  God's 
words  are  better  than  ours.  His  own  language  in 
our  instruction,  or  our  prayer,  will  be  the  instrument 
of  his  own  divine  blessing.  A  single  passage  or  sen 
tence  of  this  precious  Word  will  sometimes  be  im 
pressed  upon  the  conscience  and  the  memory  of  those 
to  whom  we  minister,  as  "  with  the  point  of  the  dia 
mond,  and  like  lead  in  the  rock  forever." 

The  pastor  who  is  the  most  completely  furnished 
with  this  gracious  Word,  and  who  employs  it  the 
most  simply  and  constantly  in  his  ministry,  will  al- 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  147 

ways  be  the  most  effective  and  useful  messenger  for 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  to  the  secret,  personal  wants  of  a 
suffering  people.  His  mind  thoroughly  alive  with 
the  sacred  language,  will  quickly  pass,  like  a  bird 
upon  the  tree,  from  promise  to  promise,  from  one 
precious  utterance  to  another,  in  the  repetition  and 
application  of  God's  precious  truth — the  living  Word 
which  abideth  forever.  And  his  whole  ministry  will 
be  made  a  life-giving  ministry  to  those  for  whom  he 
thus  labors  in  the  Lord's  name.  Our  usefulness  in 
this  work  is  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the 
power  of  God. 

II.  A  second  element  of  our  power  is  in  our  own 
clear  perception  and  utterance  of  this  discriminated, 
sacred  truth.  Effective  skill  in  employing  and  ap 
plying  the  inspired  "Word  of  God  is  a  very  precious 
and  important  gift.  This  is  not  the  fruit  of  peculiar 
intellectual  grasp  or  acquisition,  nor  the  result  of  va 
ried  learning  in  Biblical  criticism  or  the  languages 
and  emendations  of  the  Word.  It  is  in  the  clear  dis 
cernment  and  experience  of  its  divine  power  and  pur 
pose;  in  a  full  understanding  of  the  scheme  of  divine 
grace  and  the  salvation  of  man,  which  these  holy 
writings  contain  and  proclaim. 

Knowledge   and  experience  of  human  suffering, 


148  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

and  practical  sympathy  in  applying  the  messages  of 
the  sacred  Word  to  the  personal  wants  and  sufferings 
of  those  to  whom  we  minister,  is  an  eminent  instru 
ment  of  power.  In  the  hands  of  two  different  men, 
discriminated  by  this  one  element  of  distinction,  the 
Bible  seems  an  entirely  different  book.  The  power 
which  the  pastor  exercises  who  can  sit  by  the  bed 
side  of  the  sick,  or  in  the  circle  of  the  sorrowing, 
and  without  formality,  or  pretense,  or  assumed  solem 
nity  of  manner,  can  clearly,  distinctly,  gently  utter 
the  language  of  the  Spirit,  in  an  exposition  of  the 
privileges  of  grace,  and  the  wray  of  divine  salvation 
which  the  Word  of  God  contains,  can  not  be  trans 
cended  by  any  other  exercise  of  the  Christian  min 
istry.  "  Sanctify  them  by  the  truth,"  the  Saviour 
said ;  "  Thy  Word  is  truth." 

Make  it  your  constant  purpose  and  effort  to  gain 
clear  and  comprehensive  views  of  the  divine  instruc 
tions  ;  distinct  perceptions  of  the  practical  use  and 
design  of  the  words  of  eternal  life.  Seek  an  enlight 
ened  apprehension  of  the  glory  of  the  Saviour's  per 
son  ;  of  the  facts  of  his  history ;  of  the  perfectness 
of  his  obedience  for  man ;  of  the  fullness  of  his  rec 
onciling  sacrifice ;  of  the  glorious  reality  of  his  res 
urrection,  and  his  eternal  reign ;  of  his  personal 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  149 

relation  to  his  people,  as  their  one  justification  and 
their  glorious  recompense  of  reward;  their  insepar 
able  companion  on  earth ;  their  life  and  their  portion 
forever.  Learn  to  teach  and  to  preach  in  your  pas 
tor  work  of  Jesus  only — of  Jesus  clearly  and  discrim- 
inately ;  as  really  understanding  the  whole  scheme 
and  fullness  of  his  grace,  and  knowing  whereof  you 
affirm.  Here  is  a  power  which  will  never  fail  you. 

A  younger  successor  of  mine  in  the  ministry,  vis 
iting  an  old  and  wasting  widow  in  the  congrega 
tion,  asked  her  what  he  should  do  for  her.  "  Only 
tell  me  a  little  more  of  Jesus,  as  my  old  pastor  used 
to,"  was  her  significant  reply. 

How  often  have  I  heard  the  poor,  the  aged,  the 
ignorant  of  this  world,  in  the  midst  of  sorrow,  suffer 
ing,  and  death,  glorifying  their  Saviour,  with  such 
strong  and  perfect  faith,  with  such  clear  intelligence 
and  perception  of  his  work  and  worth,  that  their  ut 
terance  and  knowledge  seemed  like  a  direct  inspira 
tion  from  God. 

There  is  your  element  of  power.  You  do  not  pre 
vail  with  the  hearts  of  your  people  by  expostulations, 
or  reproofs,  or  earnestness  of  appeal  alone.  Jesus  is 
the  Bread  of  Life ;  and  you  must  feed  your  hunger 
ing  ones  with  that  Living  Bread.  If  you  go  upon 


150  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

your  pastor  work,  carrying  this  clear  perception,  tins 
simple  faith,  this  calm  and  steadfast  confidence  in 
the  revelation  of  a  Saviour's  person,  work,  and  power, 
you  will  have  utterance  given  to  you.  Jesus  will 
make  you  mighty  to  prevail.  And  you  will  find  this 
Scriptural  simplicity  of  teaching  an  element  of  con 
stant  and  very  precious  influence  for  the  promotion 
of  his  glory  and  the  success  of  your  work. 

III.  A  third  element  of  power  in  your  pastor  work 
wrill  be  your  manifest  experience  and  enjoyment  of  the 
truth  you  teach.  Let  your  fire  be  real — the  flame  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  burning  on  the  altar  of  your  own 
converted,  believing  soul,  never  to  go  out  day  or  night. 
No  sight  can  be  more  sad  than  to  see  a  spiritually 
blind,  unconverted  man  attempting  to  minister  to  the 
sick  and  suffering,  the  awakened  and  inquiring.  Such 
a  one  in  my  acquaintance  was  desired  to  visit  a  lady 
in  his  own  congregation,  under  deep  conviction  of 
sin.  His  first  opening  address  to  her  was,  "  Miss  B., 
I  understand  you  have  been  thinking  of  eternity." 
"  I  have  thought  much  of  it,"  she  replied.  "  Would 
you  like  to  have  me  ask  the  Rev.  Mr.  P.  to  visit  you?" 
naming  another  minister  of  a  more  serious  character. 

^ 

"  No,  sir,"  she  answered.  "  If  my  own  minister  can 
not  guide  me  in  the  wray  of  salvation,  my  Bible  will." 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  151 

Another  of  the  same  character,  known  to  me,  was 
called  to  visit  a  sick  lady.  Standing  at  the  door  of 
her  chamber,  he  said,  "Will  you  have  the  Communion, 
or  only  the  Visitation  ?"  "  Not  the  Communion  this 
morning,"  she  answered.  He  took  his  Prayer-book 
from  his  pocket,  and  read  the  Office  for  the  Visita 
tion  of  the  Sick,  and  departed. 

We  may  well  ask,  How  can  a  ministry  so  formal 
and  lifeless  be  an  adequate  ministry  of  the  Gospel  to 
the  souls  of  men  ?  "  Taste  yourselves,  that  the  Lord 
is  gracious."  Be  you  alive  unto  God,  in  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  in  your  own  personal  experience  of  his  life- 
giving  power.  Let  the  words  you  speak  be  written 
and  engraved  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  your  own  hearts, 
and  know  what  you  say  and  whereof  you  affirm. 
There  is  a  power  in  such  a  ministry  which  every  one 
feels,  and  which  none  are  ready  to  deny.  The  pastor 
evidently  "leads  the  way;"  and  he  is  relied  upon  with 
confidence,  and  received  with  welcome  and  reverence. 

Such  a  pastor  is  at  home  in  every  household.  He 
is  cherished  by  every  true  child  of  God.  The  family 
of  the  Lord  are  really  fed  by  him,  and  welcome  his 
coming  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  prophetic  description : 
"How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet 
of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth 


152  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

peace ;  that  publisheth  salvation ;  that  saith  unto 
Zion,  Thy  God  reigneth."  This  is  the  power  which 
will  attend  a  manifest,  real  experience  of  the  Gospel, 
which  as  pastors  of  the  Saviour's  flock  you  are  em 
ployed  to  teach. 

IY.  Another  element  of  power  will  be  found  in 
your  habit  of  personal,  inwrought  prayer.  This 
power  of  prayer  may  be  considered  in  its  twofold  ex 
ercise  :  in  your  own  personal  communion  with  God 
your  Saviour,  bringing  your  divine  strength  and  guid 
ance  from  him ;  and  in  your  social  prayer  with  oth 
ers,  making  you  the  instrument  of  imparting  strength 
from  God  to  them. 

The  truly  faithful  pastor  lives  in  prayer.  It  is  the 
controlling  purpose— the  habitual  exercise  and  em 
ployment  of  his  life.  He  loves  to  go  alone  within 
the  veil  to  have  a  blessed  fellowship,  a  personal  con 
verse  with  the  God  of  his  salvation.  He  habitually 
returns  to  bless  his  people  with  the  blessings  with 
which  he  has  been  enriched  by  God  his  Saviour. 

He  is  accustomed  to  lay  the  cares,  the  wants,  the 
condition  of  his  people  before  the  throne  of  an  ex 
alted  Saviour.  The  many  questions  which  he  has 
not  skill  to  answer,  the  many  difficulties  which  he  has 
no  power  to  relieve,  the  names  and  the  necessities  of 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  153 

those  committed  to  him,  he  frequently  recounts  be 
fore  the  mercy-seat  of  God,  as  Aaron  carried  the 
names  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  engraven  on  his  heart 

o 

with  the  power  of  a  living  affection.  And  he  re 
ceives  a  new  power  for  his  ministry  which  is  the  gift 
of  God,  and  which  enables  him  to  deal  successfully 
with  cases  of  trial  which  were  before  beyond  his 
reach,  insoluble  by  any  wisdom  of  his  own.  If  you 
would  be  truly  faithful  and  useful  pastors  to  the 
flock  of  Jesus,  you  will  find  here  one  most  important 
and  indispensable  element  of  a  desired  and  needed 
power  in  your  work. 

But  I  also  wish  to  speak  of  the  exercise  and  habit 
of  prayer  with  others,  in  your  personal  visits  as  pas 
tors.  You  will  find  such  exercises  to  be  most  wel 
come,  valued,  precious  seasons,  and  instruments  of 
divine  blessing  upon  your  people.  I  well  know  the 
difficulties  which  are  frequently  apparently  in  the 
way  of  your  proposal  of  such  an  exercise  in  your  per 
sonal  visits.  But  far  more  generally  than  you  im 
agine,  the  expectation  is  cherished  by  others  with 
pleasure ;  and  the  disappointment  is  real,  when  the 
desire  has  not  been  met  by  you.  As  a  rule  in  this 
peculiar  crisis,  the  obstacle  is  far  more  generally  in 
the  fear  and  the  sensitive  shrinking  of  the  minister 
G2 


154:  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

than  in  the  hostility  of  the  people.  A  truly  prayer 
ful,  faithful  minister  will  always  find  an  open  door. 

Dr.  Payson  was  invited  to  an  evening  entertain 
ment  in  a  family  and  circle  of  friends,  where  the 
master  of  the  house  was  very  averse  to  the  minister's 
habit  of  social  prayer,  and  had  his  table  so  arranged 
as  to  prevent  the  expected  proposal.  Dr.  Payson  said 
to  him,  in  his  gentle  way,  "  Who  was  it,  sir,  that  said 
these  standing  feasts  were  contrived  by  Satan,  to  shut 
out  the  asking  for  a  divine  blessing?"  "I  do  not 
know,"  was  the  reply  from  the  gentleman  whom  he 
addressed ;  "  but,  if  you  please,  sir,  we  will  disappoint 
him  on  this  occasion."  And  he  rapped  for  silence 
among  his  friends,  and  introduced  a  prayer  from  Dr. 
Pay  sou. 

You  will  be  delighted,  perhaps  surprised,  to  find 
what  an  element  of  power  you  have  in  social  prayer. 
A  skillful,  prayerful  pastor  may  weave  the  whole  case 
of  sorrow  and  trial  before  him,  and  the  connected 
history  of  the  family  in  which  he  is  ministering,  into 
the  language  of  supplication,  so  appropriately  and  so 
affectionately,'  that,  by  the  Lord's  blessing,  he  will 
unite  and  elevate  all  the  hearts  around  him  to  the 
heavenly  throne  in  the  spirit  of  submission  and  love, 
lie  may  impersonate  the  natural  language  of  the 


OF   A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  155 

sufferers  themselves,  so  as  to  awaken  in  them  a  tender 
and  suitable  feeling  of  trust,  desire,  gratitude,  and 
submission  to  the  divine  love  and  wisdom.  I  have 
seen  the  whole  company  present  thus  lifted  up  in 
feeling  and  spirit,  deeply  impressed,  instructed,  and 
moved  by  the  language  of  united  supplication,  prob 
ably  far  more  effectively  than  they  could  have  been 
by  exhortations  addressed  directly  to  themselves. 

Such  employment  of  the  blessed  privilege  of 
prayer  is  an  important  study.  We  should  feel  it 
as  much  a  pastor's  duty  to  pre-think  his  subjects  arid 
utterance  in  prayer,  addressed  to  a  heavenly  mind, 
as  his  subjects  for  instruction  addressed  to  the  ear 
of  man.  I  do  not  forget  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
promised  to  teach  us  in  that  same  hour,  in  our  par 
ticular  crisis  and  call,  what  we  ought  to  say.  But  I 
am  also  aware  that  his  presence  and  power  are  to 
prepare  us  for  our  work  for  Jesus  as  well  as  to  ac 
company  us  therein.  We  ought  never  to  be  separate 
from  the  spirit  of  prayer  or  preaching.  But  we  are 
to  be  cautious  how  we  lay  careless  hands  upon  the 
ark  of  God,  or  fail  to  "  seek  him  in  due  order." 
A  young  man  who  felt  himself  immediately  inspired 
to  preach,  and  remonstrated  against  the  delay  and 
uselessness  of  a  prescribed  study,  said  to  Bishop 


156  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Griswold,  "  You  know,  bishop,  that  God  has  no 
need  of  man's  wisdom.  It  is  the  foolishness  of 
preaching  which  is  to  be  made  the  wisdom  of  God." 
"  Yes,  I  know  that,"  said  the  old  bishop ;  "  but  God 
has  still  less  need  of  man's  folly.  Foolish  preaching 
may  be  very  far  from  the  foolishness  of  preaching 
of  which  God  speaks." 

I  would  urge  you  to  the  utmost  careful  prepara 
tion  within  your  power  for  all  your  service,  and  for 
every  service  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  which  you  un 
dertake,  whether  preaching,  conversation,  or  prayer. 
Strive  to  maintain  the  spirit  of  prayer  as  a  funda 
mental  element  of  power  for  all  your  work,  and 
carry  it  with  you  whithersoever  and  for  whatsoever 
you  may  be  called  or  sent. 

Y.  Another  very  important  element  of  power  in 
your  ministry  will  be  the  cultivation  and  exercise  of 
sympathizing  emotions,  and  cheerful,  happy  views  of 
persons  and  things.  To  make  yourselves  rightly  ac 
ceptable  to  others,  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  vast  help 
toward  making  yourselves  really  useful.  It  is  our 
dispensation  to  carry  many  burdens  which  do  not 
belong  to  us,  "and  to  relieve  many  sorrows  which 
come  upon  us  only  in  our  office.  In  the  midst  of 
these,  we  have  no  time  and  no  opportunity  for  mel- 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOK.  157 

ancholy,  depression,  or  discontent.  We  are  the  min 
isters  of  a  cheerful  Gospel,  and  we  should  be 
cheerful  ministers  of  that  Gospel.  The  language 
of  complaint  we  must  never  indulge;  still  less  the 
feeling  of  petulance,  anger,  or  resentment.  We  can 
do  nothing  in  our  private  work  as  pastors,  if  we 
allow  a  cold  manner,  or  a  morose  or  indifferent  as 
pect.  Life  is  peculiarly  writh  us  a  divine  dispensa 
tion  and  ministry.  Our  personal  interests,  our  va 
rious  family  affairs,  will  compel  attention  as  much 
from  us  as  from  other  men.  But  we  are  as  the 
ministers  of  Christ  under  a  special  divine  guardian 
ship,  as  peculiarly  given  to  the  work  of  the  Lord. 
Our  bread  will  be  given  to  us,  and  our  water  will  be 
sure.  "We  are  to  be  contented  and  cheerful.  The 
language  of  complaint  can  never  help  us.  The  ut 
terance  or  the  feeling  of  mortification  or  disap 
pointment  relieves  no  sorrow,  reveals  our  own  weak 
ness,  and  always  exposes  us  to  a  just  reproach.  I 
may  say  to  you  that  I  had  been  in  the  ministry 
twenty-four  years  before  I  received  for  my  pastoral 
work  a  salary  sufficient  to  afford  me  what  might 
have  been  considered  a  proper  support  for  my 
family.  I  never  made  one  question  or  complaint 
concerning  it  to  the  authorities  of  my  congregations, 


158  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

nor  did  I  ever  leave  a  people  upon  the  ground  of 
personal  dissatisfaction  with  my  provision. 

I  would  impress  upon  you,  in  all  your  domestic  and 
personal  relations,  learn  to  take  with  thankfulness 
that  which  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  give  you ;  and  illus 
trate  your  real  dependence  on  his  love  in  the  cul 
tivation  of  the  habit  of  contentment  and  cheer 
fulness,  that  "blessing  of  the  Lord  which  maketh 
rich,  and  addeth  no  sorrow  therewith."  Go  every 
where  to  increase  the  joys,  and  not  to  add  to  the  dis 
tress  of  the  people.  Do  not  make  yourselves  bur 
dens  to  your  friends,  and  by  no  hints  or  representa 
tions  exact  more  than  is  appointed  you. 

There  is  a  power  in  such  a  deportment  of  cheer 
fulness,  contentment,  delicacy,  and  refinement  in  your 
relations  as  pastor,  which  will  make  all  your  labors 
among  your  people  "  as  apples  of  gold  in  a  net-work 
of  silver."  You  may  be  "  poor,  yet  making  many  rich ; 
as  having  nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things." 
Your  very  entrance  among  the  flock  committed  to 
you  will  be  giving  light ;  and  all  will  learn  to  feel 
that  they  are  always  the  happier  for  seeing  and  hear 
ing  you  in  your  pastoral  work  for  the  honor  of  your 
gracious  Lord. 

YI.  All  these  elements  of  power  are,  after  all,  to 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  159 

be  considered  by  us  but  the  instruments  of  the  divine 
power.  The  grand  power  of  your  work  is  always  in 
the  attending  ministry  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  You  go 
forth  as  ministers  of  the  New  Testament — of  the 
Spirit,  not  of  the  letter.  The  Holy  Ghost,  who  sep 
arates  you  for  the  work  to  which  he  has  called  you, 
will  be  always  with  you.  He  will  take  of  the  things 
of  Christ,  and  show  them  unto  you.  You  may  seek 
his  presence  with  affectionate  trust.  He  will  make 
your  words  to  be  spirit  and  life  in  the  hearts  of  those 
to  whom  you  minister  for  him.  It  is  the  great  priv 
ilege  of  your  ministry  to  be  permitted  to  speak  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  say,  in  a  loving,  trusting 
heart,  of  all  your  work,  "  It  seemeth  good  to  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  to  us." 

We  have  been  acquainted  with  men  in  the  minis 
try  who  seemed  to  us  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
whose  aspect  and  walk  in  life  appeared  always  en 
lightened  by  the  Spirit ;  whose  prayers  and  teaching 
seemed  always  to  be  moved  and  prompted  by  the 
Spirit  of  God ;  and  whose  presence  with  us  in  the 
day  of  suffering  would  have  been  welcomed  as  a  di 
rect  visitation  of  divine  power,  peace,  and  love. 

Such  a  man  was  James  W.  Alexander,  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  New  York,  who  seemed  to  be  al- 


160  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

ways  walking  in  the  beauties  of  holiness  and  in  the 
love  of  the  Spirit.  Often  have  I  said  of  him,  when 
I  am  sick  and  dying,  no  man  would  be  a  more  ac 
ceptable  ministering  visitor  to  me. 

I  have  no  more  time  to  speak  of  this  particular 
exhibition  of  power  in  our  ministry.  These  are  very 
distinct  elements  of  a  faithful  pastor's  power,  though 
by  no  means  all  which  might  be  considered.  Let  me 
earnestly  press  these  upon  your  remembrance.  Strive 
to  live  in  the  Spirit,  to  walk  in  the  Spirit,  to  pray  in 
the  Spirit,  to  speak  in  the  Spirit ;  so  that,  however 
successful  you  may  be  in  your  work  for  Jesus,  the 
glory  may  be  wholly  given  to  that  one  Spirit,  who, 
in  a  variety  of  ministrations,  is  the  one  abiding  Teach 
er  of  the  ransomed  Church  of  God :  "  For  I  give  you 
to  understand  that  no  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the 
Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

VII.  With  these  suggestions  upon  the  POWER  of  a 
pastor's  work,  I  will  close  my  attempt  to  aid  and  en 
courage  you  in  a  life  of  usefulness  in  the  ministry  by 
some  suggestions  upon  the  ATTAINMENTS  which,  through 
the  blessing  of  God,  may  be  permitted  to  reward  and 
honor  our  efforts.  We  are  never  left  without  a  bless 
ing  upon  a  faithful  ministry  for  Christ.  But  the  ex 
tent  to  which  we  are  really  prospered,  and  the  variety 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN  PASTOR.  161 

of  that  divine  blessing,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  to 
know  within  the  limits  of  our  present  life.  Some 
facts,  however,  are  so  clearly  promised,  and  so  readily 
perceived  as  we  go  on  in  our  course,  that  we  can  not 
refuse  our  testimony  to  the  Lord's  faithfulness  to  us, 
nor  doubt  that  he  has  graciously  accepted  our  labors 
for  his  glory  and  his  truth. 

1.  We  shall  enjoy  a  degree  of  manifest  success  in 
our  effort.  From  the  idea  of  success  I  shall  not  ex 
clude  a  fair  measure  of  outward  prosperity  and  so 
cial  comfort  in  our  outward  life.  We  may  expect  a 
fair  and  adequate  provision  for  our  proper  wants ;  a 
reasonable  measure  of  personal  health ;  the  many  do 
mestic  comforts  which  fill  our  habitations;  the  re 
spect  and  kindness  of  our  fellow-men ;  the  "  many 
fathers  and  mothers^  brothers  and  sisters,"  which  have 
been  included  in  the  Lord's  gracious  promise  and 
providence. 

I  have  seen  much  of  human  society,  in  all  the  va 
ried  classes  of  social  life ;  and  I  must  give  my  testi 
mony  with  fidelity,  that  no  class  of  men  are  more 
uniformly  welcomed  with  respect,  cherished  with  af 
fection,  honored  in  general  esteem,  and  made  com 
fortable  and  contented  in  their  various  earthly  rela 
tions  in  our  country,  than  the  faithful  and  upright 


162  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  This  habitual 
result  in  my  observation,  so  far  from  being  dimin 
ished  in  the  progress  of  years,  was  never  more  mani 
festly  the  characteristic  and  the  general  tribute  of 
the  people  in  this  nation  than  it  is  in  our  day.  The 
ministry  of  the  churches  of  Jesus  our  Lord  have 
their  full  share  of  respect,  of  power,  of  influence  in 
all  portions  of  our  land ;  and,  in  the  degree  of  their 
personal  claims,  are  uniformly  and  every  where  ac 
knowledged  with  reverence,  and  welcomed  with  gen 
eral  respect. 

I  must  further  say  that  this  feeling  and  habit,  in 
all  its  local  relations,  is  uniformly  measured  to  indi 
viduals  by  their  fidelity  in  their  pastoral  duties  and 
relations.  The  preacher  is  spoken  of  with  respect, 
according  to  an  intelligent  valuation  of  his  personal 
talent  and  accomplishments,  as  a  public  agent,  and 
not  unfrequently  with  a  severe»criticism  and  exami 
nation.  But  the  faithful  pastor  dwells  as  a  father 
among  his  children  in  every  Church,  and  every  con 
gregation  and  community.  He  is  embedded  in  a  liv 
ing  home,  and  remembered  and  thought  of  with  an 
unchangeable  regard  and  confidence. 

The  preacher  will  fade  with  age.  The  pastor 
grows  brighter  as  he  proceeds;  still  advancing  in 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK.  1G3 

human  esteem ;  bringing  forth  his  fruit  in  old  age ; 
illustrating  in  a  far  higher  measure  the  beautiful  re- 

O  O 

flection  of  the  aged  hero  of  Greece : 

"To  the  still  grave  retiring,  as  to  rest; 
My  people  blessing — by  my  people  blest." 

My  young  friends,  this  is  success  in  the  highest 
earthly  degree.  It  is  a  life  which  gathers  out  of  this 
world  all  that  earth  can  give,  and  leaves  to  man  no 
want  which  is  unsupplied. 

2.  Such  a  pastor  receives  actual  seals  of  his  minis 
try  in  the  divine  conversion  of  souls  to  Christ  their 
Saviour.  How  sweetly  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians: 
"Ye  may  have  ten  thousand  instructors.  Ye  have 
not  many  fathers.  In  Christ  Jesus  I  have  begotten 
you  through  the  Gospel."  How  precious  is  this  bond 
between  a  faithful  pastor  and  the  child  of  God,  who 
owes  to  his  ministry  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul ! 

I  am  sure  I  shall  never  forget  my  sailor-boy,  of 
whom  I  have  already  told  you,  as  the  first-fruits  of 
my  youthful  ministry.  Paul  employs  the  figure,  and 
I  may  also  use  it.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  young 
mother  rejoices  over  her  first-born  with  a  more  real 
or  a  purer  joy  than  a  young  Christian  pastor  rejoices 
over  the  first  new-born  soul,  manifestly  given  to  him 
as  a  sincere  and  loving  minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 


1G4:  THE    OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

I  once  heard  a  minister  in  middle  age  say  that  he 
did  not  know  that  God  had  ever  given  to  him  a  sin 
gle  soul  as  a  witness  to  his  ministry.  The  utterance 
shocked  me  then  long  years  ago,  and  it  seems  vastly 
more  shocking  to  me  now.  What  is  the  life  of  a 
minister  of  Christ  worth,  if  no  precious  souls  are  re 
covered  and  saved  by  the  exercise  and  outpouring  of 
his  love  for  Jesus?  All  the  comforts  and  gains  of 
earth  would  seem  to  me  as  nothing  in  this  compari 
son.  I  should  take  up  the  retrospective  complaint  of 
Grotius  and  Selden  in  such  a  barren  review :  "  Vita 
agitur,  operose  nihil  agendo"  -"My  life  has  been 
spent  in  laboriously  doing  nothing  at  all." 

But  we  shall  not  be  left  thus  desolate  if  we  are 
sincere  and  faithful  in  the  work  committed  to  us. 
The  residue  of  the  spirit  is  with  the  Lord.  He  will 
never  be  slack  in  his  promise,  however  long-suffering 
he  may  be  toward  us.  And  how  great  will  be  the 
joy  of  looking  upon  those  whom  the  Lord  has  given 
to  us,  as  we  are  training  them  for  him,  and  edifying 
them  in  his  service,  and  in  the  anticipation  of  his 
glorious  coming. 

This  is  the  real  success  of  our  life — the  winning 

O 

souls  for  Jesus.     It  is  a  joy  which  no  man  taketh 
from  us.    And  this  is  the  peculiar  result  of  a  faithful 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOE.  165 

pastoral  work :  feeding  the  sheep  and  the  lambs  of 
the  Saviour's  flock.  The  more  truly  we  are  devoted 
to  this  one  purpose  of  life,  the  more  abundantly  will 
he  multiply  his  blessings  upon  us.  If  we  strive, "  in 
season,  out  of  season,1'  to  lead  ransomed  souls  to  Jesus, 
hiding  ourselves  in  the  light  which  shines  from  him ; 
not  preaching  ourselves,  but  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord — 
"  Of  Zion  it  shall  be  said  for  us,  that  this  and  that 
man  were  born  there ;"  and  "  the  Lord  shall  rehearse 
it  when  he  writeth  up  his  people ;"  when  "  they  that 
are  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firma 
ment,  and  they  who  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as 
the  stars,  forever  and  ever." 

3.  We  may  have  the  great  joy  of  receiving  special 
revivals  of  the  Saviour's  work  under  our  ministry. 
Those  great  revivals  which  refreshed  the  churches  of 
this  country  in  former  years  can  never  be  forgotten 
by  the  men  who  were  permitted  to  labor  in  them. 
They  were  wonderful  demonstrations  of  the  presence 
and  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  Saviour's 
Church  on  earth.  I  will  give  you  some  illustrations 
in  a  short  account  of  two,  in  which  my  own  ministry 
was  personally  occupied,  and  the  influence  and  re 
sults  of  which  I  saw  and  knew. 

In  the  opening  of  the  year  1820  I  was  in  Bristol, 


1G6  THE    OFFICE    AND    DUTY 

Rhode  Island,  preparing  for  my  ministry  with  the 
venerable  Bishop  Griswold.  I  have  already  referred 
to  the  Sabbath  evening  on  which  he  officiated  for  the 
last  time  for  two  months.  During  all  this  period  he 
was  confined  with  a  severe  illness  to  his  house.  At 
our  weekly  prayer-meeting  on  the  previous  Friday 
evening,  there  were  but  thirteen  persons  present.  It 
appeared  to  us  a  most  depressing  condition,  and  al 
most  hopeless.  On  Monday,  after  the  events  before 
described,  there  appeared  a  very  remarkable  earnest 
ness  and  interest  among  the  people,  manifested  in 
conversation  among  little  gatherings  around,  and  re 
sulting  in  a  general  demand  for  an  assembling  of  the 
people  for  a  religious  worship  and  conference.  They 
were  unwilling  to  wait  for  the  regular  meeting  of 
Friday.  Accordingly,  a  meeting  was  privately  noti 
fied  to  be  held  in  a  private  house  offered  for  the  pur 
pose  on  Thursday  evening.  It  became  my  duty  to 
conduct  it.  I  found  the  house  at  the  appointed  time 
as  completely  filled  as  it  would  have  been  at  a  crowd 
ed  funeral. 

A  small  table  was  placed  for  me  on  the  half-way 
landing  of  the  stairs,  with  a  Bible  and  a  hymn-book ; 
and  there  I  stood,  in  all  the  weakness  of  a  youth  not 
twenty  years  of  age,  to  address  an  anxious  assembly, 


OF   A   CimiSTTAN   PASTOR.  167 

filling  every  space  which  I  could  see,  and  the  rooms 
which  were  beyond  my  sight.  That  meeting  was  the 
commencement  of  a  series  of  nightly  public  meetings, 
which  were  continued  for  three  months.  These  were 
also  soon  connected  with  the  appointment  of  another 
in  the  afternoon,  and  then  another  in  the  morning,  of 
most  of  the  days  in  different  parts  of  the  town,  and 
in  many  of  the  country  dwellings  around.  The 
same  awakened  spirit  was  found  in  the  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  churches.  We  worked  together  in 
unison  and  harmony.  The  whole  population  of  the 
town  seemed  to  feel  the  solemn  impulse.  The  bus 
iness  of  the  people  was  for  a  season  arrested.  The 
stores  wrere  closed.  The  general  interest  of  the 
people  appeared  to  be  consecrated  to  the  one  great 
thought  and  purpose  of  the  soul's  salvation. 

I  have  not  time  to  dwell  upon  the  incidents  of 
this  wronderful  season.  Many  of  them  were  very 
remarkable.  And  I  can  not  speak  personally  be 
yond  the  experience  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  There 
seemed  to  be  scarce  a  person  in  the  town  unaffected 
or  uninterested  in  the  one  great  theme  of  conversa 
tion.  There  were  some  scoffers ;  but  they  awakened 
no  thought  on  their  side.  The  whole  work  was  too 
manifestly  the  work  of  the  Lord  to  be  derided. 


168  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

Perhaps  eight  weeks  had  passed  by,  during  which, 
in.  outward  ministry,  I  was  quite  alone  in  the  Epis 
copal  Church  to  meet  this  whole  aggregate  of  de 
mand  for  public  teaching  and  private  conference. 
When  the  bishop,  who  was  also  the  rector  of  the 
church,  became  sufficiently  restored  to  receive  a 
number  at  his  house,  sixty  or  seventy  of  the  new 
converts  were  assembled  in  his  dining-room.  Sit 
ting  in  his  chair,  a  manifest  invalid,  he  addressed 
these  precious  souls.  You  may  readily  conceive  how 
my  young  heart  rejoiced  at  the  sight,  and  in  the 
sound  of  his  encouraging  voice. 

I  was  laboring  there  in  the  same  way,  not  with 
the  same  increasing  numbers,  for  a  full  year  after 
this  occasion.  There  was  no  diminution  of  religious 
interest,  and  not  much  more  in  public  services;  no 
retraction  of  earnestness  in  the  persons  thus  convert 
ed,  nor  in  the  general  effects  produced.  This  was  a 
revival ;  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  the  fruit  and 
the  result  of  the  truly  faithful  pastoral  ministry  and 
public  teaching  of  the  venerable  man  of  God  to  whom 
I  have  referred,  who  had  been  for  near  twenty  years 
the  beloved  pastor  of  that  church.  How  much  I 
learned  of  the  appointed  work  and  blessing  of  the 
ministry  during  that  period  you  can  readily  see.  It 


OF   A   CIIEISTIAN   PASTOK.  169 

was  the  beginning  of  my  life,  and  it  left  an  un 
changeable  impression  on  my  ministry.  I  speak  of 
the  whole  event  here  as  one  of  the  blessed  attain 
ments  of  the  ministry  through  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

In  the  winter  of  1831,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
God  was  pleased  to  open  to  me  another  similar  mani 
festation  of  his  grace.  Our  weekly  prayer-meeting 
was  on  Saturday  evening.  At  the  close  of  the  meet 
ing  on  this  occasion,  after  I  had  dismissed  the  as 
sembly,  sixteen  persons  of  both  sexes,  all  youthful, 
remained  on  their  knees  in  different  parts  of  the 
room,  unconscious  of  each  other's  presence.  I  went 
round  and  spoke  to  each.  I  knelt  and  prayed  with 
all.  And  after  another  hour  thus  spent  they  retired. 
I  was  overwhelmed  with  gratitude  and  amazement. 

On  the  Sabbath  morning  succeeding,  I  gave  some 
account  of  the  preceding  evening,  and  appointed  a 
meeting  on  Monday  evening  for  conversation  with 
all  who  were  awakened  to  seek  their  personal  salva 
tion.  At  that  meeting  more  than  seventy  persons 
came  under  this  invitation.  I  have  already  referred 
to  this  meeting  in  a  previous  lecture.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  a  very  remarkable  revival.  Dur 
ing  two  years  succeeding,  in  all  the  seasons,  we  main- 

II 


170  THE    OFFICE    AND   DUTY 

tained  a  morning  prayer-meeting  daily,  at  six  o'clock, 
which  even  in  mid- winter  was  well  attended. 

The  immediate  results  of  this  divine  visitation 
were  in  the  conversion  of  more  than  two  hundred 
persons,  among  whom  were  fifteen  married  couples 
in  the  early  maturity  of  life.  Some  of  the  incidents 
and  individual  cases  of  conversion  during  this  gra 
cious  season  were  as  remarkable  and  peculiar  .as  any 
of  which  I  have  ever  heard.  I  have  already  referred 
to  a  few  of  these,  and  I  have  not  time  to  dwell  too 
long  upon  others. 

A  very  fashionable  lady,  the  wife  of  a  Commodore 
in  the  navy,  was,  with  her  husband  and  family,  a  por 
tion  of  my  congregation.  At  our  early  prayer-meet 
ing  in  winter,  on  one  Thursday  morning,  this  lady 
was  present,  and  waited  for  me  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting,  and  I  accompanied  her  to  her  house.  I  will 
give  you  the  account,  as  nearly  as  I  can,  in  her  own 
words.  She  said : 

"I  have  not  been  in  bed  during  the  whole  night. 
I  have  left  my  husband  and  children  asleep ;  and 
after  having  walked  the  floor  the  whole  night,  I  re 
membered  your  meeting  at  six  o'clock,  and  locked 
my  street  door,  and  came  to  meet  you  here.  Last 
evening  I  was  coming  down  Walnut  Street,  after 


OF    A    CHRISTIAN   PASTOR.  171 

dark,  on  my  return  to  my  home.  When  opposite  to 
Washington  Square,  I  heard  a  church  bell  ringing. 
I  felt  an  irresistible  impulse,  I  know  not  why,  to  fol 
low  the  sound.  I  saw  a  number  of  persons  going 
into  a  church  of  which  I  had  no  knowledge,  and  I 

o    " 

followed  them.  They  ascended  the -stairs  leading  to 
a  lecture -room  over  the  hall,  and  I  accompanied 
them,  and  sat  down.  Presently  I  saw  you  come  in, 
and  go  into  the  desk.  I  was  amazed.  I  know  not 
what  influence  it  was,  but  you  preached  to  me  as  I 
never  heard  you  before.  My  whole  soul  was  aroused. 
I  longed  to  speak  to  you  after  the  service  was  con 
cluded  ;  but  I  hesitated  until  you  were  gone,  and  I 
went  home  alone.  And  now  I  have  come  to  you 
this  morning  for  your  instruction  and  guidance." 

You  may  imagine  with  what  astonishment  I  list 
ened  to  this  recital.  At  my  tea-table  the  preceding 
evening  a  gentleman  called  to  say  that  Mr.  Barnes, 
the  pastor  of  the  church  which  she  described,  was 
suddenly  ill,  and  to  beg  me  to  supply  his  place  in 
his  regular  weekly  lecture.  I  assented  to  his  request, 
and  went  immediately,  and  this  was  the  result. 

The  message  of  Peter  to  Cornelius  hardly  appeared 
to  me  more  wonderful.  The  conversion  of  this  lady 
was  most  entire — a  wonderful  illustration  of  grace. 


172  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

She  honored  her  Saviour  in  a  faithful  life,  and  in  a 
subsequent  happy  departure.  But  this  was  only  one 
of  many  instances  of  the  all-sufficient  grace  of  a 
glorified  Saviour  which  were  witnessed  in  that  re 
vival. 

Of  such  revivals  of  the  actual  influence  of  the 
Gospel,  as  distinct  blessings  from  Jesus  to  his  Church, 
I  can  not  speak  but  as  of  gifts  of  grace  of  the  high 
est  worth,  and  as  attainments  for  the  ministry  of  the 
utmost  value  and  importance.  For  such  the  faith 
ful  pastors  of  his  people  will  earnestly  labor.  For 
them  all  the  living;  members  of  his  Church  should 

O 

pray  and  strive.  The  language  of  his  prophet  should 
be  the  utterance  of  their  hearts :  "  O  Lord,  revive  thy 
work  in  the  midst  of  the  years ;  in  wrath  remember 
mercy." 

4.  In  the  pursuit  of  such  a  pastoral  ministry  as 
I  have  sketched,  there  will  be  found  much  HAPPI 
NESS  as  a  sure  attainment  for  the  faithful  servant  of 
the  Lord  Jesus.  The  labors  of  the  Christian  minis 
try  are  in  themselves  an  unspeakable  privilege ;  and 
they  confer  unceasing  pleasure  upon  the  man  whose 
heart  is  in  his  work.  The  daily  dealing  with  those 
who  love  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  the  unceasing  min 
istration  of  comfort  and  peace  to  the  weary ;  the  re- 


OF   A    CIIKISTIAN   PASTOE.  173 

moving  of  burdens  from  the  heavy  laden ;  the  per 
mission  to  give  our  whole  time  to  the  work  of  the 
Lord  upon  the  earth  ;  to  see  our  personal  efforts  con 
stantly  promotive  of  comfort  and  strength  to  others 
— can  not  but  afford  the  purest  comfort  to  a  gener 
ous  and  loving  spirit. 

There  is  a  pleasure  in  the  public  proclamation  of 
the  "Word  of  God  wrhen  we  are  made  successful  in 
awakening  attention,  arid  in  communicating  religious 
instruction  and  elevated  motives  and  purposes  to  oth 
ers,  which  can  not  be  transcended  by  the  enjoyment 
of  any  other  life  of  man  on  earth.  For  mere  intel 
lectual  enjoyment,  perhaps  the  public  duties  of  the 
pulpit  may  be  to  the  minister  of  Christ  the  source  of 
a  higher  or  more  exhilarating  satisfaction ;  but  the 
daily  faithful  work  of  the  Christian  pastor  ministers 
to  himself  a  calm,  pure,  and  unceasing  gratification. 
I  am  perfectly  sure  that  no  class  of  men  attain  a 
more  tranquil,  contented,  or  really  satisfied  mind 
than  they  who  have  cheerfully  given  their  whole 
thought  and  time  and  faithful  care  to  the  one  work 
of  rescuing  from  evil,  of  recalling  to  duty,  of  ele 
vating  in  holiness,  both  by  their  instruction  and  their 
example,  the  multitude  of  their  fellow-men — bought 
with  the  same  precious  blood,  and  called  by  the  same 


174  THE   OFFICE   AND   DUTY 

divine  Spirit — to  the  same  heavenly  and  eternal  home 
of  a  reconciled  Father  and  God. 

And  when  you  add  to  all  this  the  final  retrospect 
of  life  and  the  glorious  hope  with  which  it  closes,  how 
filled  with  satisfaction  is  such  a  remembrance,  and 
how  abounding  in  happiness  has  been  such  a  career. 

The  eminent  Archbishop  Williams  said  in  his  dy 
ing  hour,  "  I  have  filled  more  places  of  trust  in 
Church  and  State  than  any  man  before  me  in  this 
kingdom.  But  in  this  hour  I  should  have  more  sat 
isfaction  in  knowing  that  I  had  been  the  instrument 
of  bringing  one  soul  to  Christ  my  Lord,  thnn  I  can 
now  take  in  all  the  honor  and  wealth  which  I  have 
enjoyed  on  earth." 

But  when  you  pass  beyond  this  retrospect  of  earthly 
life  to  the  living  testimony  of  the  divine  acceptance 
and  favor,  and  anticipate  that  last  acknowledgment 
of  a  faithful  pastor's  work — "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant ;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord"-— how  complete  becomes  the  recompense  of 
your  work  !  How  satisfying  is  the  choice  which  you 
have  made  !  How  thoroughly  remunerative  has  been 
the  investment  of  all  the  powers  of  your  life  and  be 
ing  in  this  one  work,  whatever  you  may  have  had  to 
give,  and  whatever  it  may  have  really  cost  you. 


OF   A   CHRISTIAN   TASTOK.  175 

I  thus  complete  the  course  which  I  was  desired 
to  address  to  you,  my  young  friends,  in  these  five 
lectures.  I  entered  upon  the  task  with  no  reluctance, 
though  not  without  inconvenience  at  my  advanced 
period  of  life.  If  I  have  really  succeeded  in  gratify 
ing,  encouraging,  and  instructing  you,  the  remem 
brance  of  our  meeting  here  will  be  a  pleasure  to  me 
amid  the  many  cares  of  a  declining  and  closing  day, 
and  the  many  obligations  and  burdens  which  in  the 
providence  of  my  gracious  Lord  still  remain  upon 
me. 

And  with  much  gratitude  for  the  attention  and 
respect  with  which  I  have  been  received  and  wel 
comed,  I  offer  you  my  best  wishes  and  my  earnest 
prayer  for  your  full  success  in  all  the  work  of  life, 
and  your  final  acceptance  and  reward  from  your 
gracious  Master's  hands. 


APPENDIX. 


I  SHOULD  scarce  feel  at  liberty  to  append  the  fol 
lowing  resolutions  and  personal  expressions  of  esteem 
and  honor,  if  it  did  not  appear  to  me  ungrateful  and 
disrespectful  to  omit  them,  excessive  as  I  feel  them  to 
be  in  their  relation  to  myself.  They  are  the  separate 
action  of  the  students  and  the  faculty  of  the  Theo 
logical  School  in  the  Boston  University,  received 
with  the  request  for  the  publication  which  I  have 
now  made. 

BOSTON  UNIVERSITY,  SCHOOL  OF  THEOLOGY,  ) 
October  3,  1873.  \ 

REV.  STEPHEN  II.  TYNG,  D.D. : 

Dear  Sir, — As  a  committee  of  the  students,  we  desire  to 
express  the  deep  interest  we  have  felt  while  listening  to  your 
recent  lectures  before  us  upon  the  Christian  pastorate.  And 
we  earnestly  request,  if  it  be  your  pleasure,  that  they  may  be 
published,  both  for  our  future  study  and  for  the  edification  of 

our  brethren  in  the  ministry. 

Respectfully, 

A  COMMITTEE  FROM  THE  STUDENTS, 
112 


178  APPENDIX. 


RESOLUTIONS 

PASSED    BY    THE    FACULTY    OF   THE    SCHOOL    OF    THEOLOGY    IN 
BOSTON  UNIVERSITY. 

It  is  encouraging,  refreshing,  and  ennobling  to  meet  one 
•whose  keen  intellectual  perceptions  appear  not  to  have  been 
in  the  least  blunted,  but  rather  improved  with  his  advancing 
years ;  the  pureness  and  chasteness  of  whose  language,  and 
the  simplicity  of  whose  style,  throw  a  rich  charm  over  every 
sentence  used;  and  wThose  affectionate  devotion  to  his  Lord 
and  Master  is  the  sweetest  and  most  perfect  charm  of  all ; 

Therefore  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Faculty  of  the  School  of 
Theology,  Boston  University,  extend  our  sincere  thanks  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Tyng  for  his  excellent  lectures  upon  "  The  Pastoral 
Office ;"  which  have  been  characterized  with  the  sharp  dis 
crimination  of  a  professed  dialectician ;  with  the  rhetorical 
excellence  of  one  who  is  a  master  of  his  mother-tongue ;  and 
with  the  earnestness  of  one  whose  soul  is  alive  to  the  grandest 
interests  of  the  REDEEMER'S  KINGDOM. 

Also  Resolved,  That  we  recognize  in  Dr.  Tyng  one  who  for 
more  than  half  a  century  has  faithfully  and  successfully  ful 
filled  the  duties  of  that  office,  with  whose  importance  and 
dignity  he  has  so  deeply  impressed  us. 

And  also  Resolved,  That  in  our  judgment  Dr.  Tyng  will  ren 
der  the  Church  and  the  ministry  a  lasting  service  by  allowing 
the  publication  of  his  admirable  lectures. 


VALUABLE  AND  INTERESTING  WORKS 


FOR 


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FLAMMARION'O  ATMOSPHERE.  The  Atmosphere.  Translated  from  the 
French  of  CAMILLE  FLAMMARION.  Edited  by  JAMES  GLAISIIER,  F.R.S., 
Superintendent  of  the  Maguetical  and  Meteorological  Department  of  the 
Royal  Observatory  at  Greenwich.  With  10  Chromo-Lithographs  and  8G 
Woodcuts.  Svo,  Cloth,  $6  00. 

HUDSON'S  HISTORY  OF  JOURNALISM.  Journalism  in  the  United  States, 
from  1G90  to  18T2.  By  FREDERICK  HUDSON.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

PIKE'S  SUB-TROPICAL  RAMBLES.  Sub-Tropical  Rambles  in  the  Land 
of  the  Aphanapteryx.  By  NICOLAS  PIKE,  U.  S.  Consul,  Port  Louis, 
Mauritius.  Profusely  Illustrated  from  the  Author's  own  Sketches ;  con 
taining  alao  Maps  and  Valuable  Meteorological  Charts.  Crown  Svo, 
Cloth,  $3  50. 

TRISTRAM'S  THE  LAND  OF  MOAB.  The  Result  of  Travels  and  Discov. 
cries  on  the  East  Side  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan.  By  II.B.  TRIS> 
TRAM,  M.A.,LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Master  of  the  Greatham  Hospital,  and  Hon. 
Canon  of  Durham.  With  a  Chapter  on  the  Persian  Palace  of  Mashita, 
by  JAS.  FERGUSON,  F.R.S.  With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

SANTO  DOMINGO,  Past  and  Present;  with  a  Glance  at  Hayti.  By  SAMUEL 
HAZARD.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

LIFE  OF  ALFRED  COOKMAN.    The  Life  of  the  Rev.  Alfred  Cookman  ; 

•with  some  Account  of  his  Father,  the  Rev.  George  Grimston  Cookman. 

By  HENRY  B.  RIDGAWAY,  D.D.    With  an  Introduction  by  Bishop  FOSTER, 

LL.D.    Portrait  on  Steel.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 
IIERVEY'S  CHRISTIAN  RHETORIC.    A  System  of  Christian  Rhetoric, 

for  the  Use  of  Preachers  and  Other  Speakers.    By  GEORGE  WINFRED 

HKRVEY,  M.A.,    Author  of  "  Rhetoric  of  Conversation,"  &c.    Svo,  Cloth, 

$350. 
CASTELAR'S  OLD  ROME  AND  NEW  ITALY.    Old  Rome  and  New  Italy. 

By  EMILIO  CASTELAR.    Translated  by  Mrs.  ARTHUR  ARNOLD.    12mo, 

Cloth,  $1  T5. 

THE  TREATY  OF  WASHINGTON:  Its  Negotiation, Execution,  and  the 
Discussions  Relating  Thereto.  By  CALEB  CUSUING.  Crown  Svo.  Cloth, 

$200. 

PRIME'S  I  GO  A-FISHING.   I  Go  a-Fishing.    By  W.  C.  PRIME.   Crown  Svo, 

Cloth,  $2  50. 
HALLOCK'S  FISHING  TOURIST.    The  Fishing  Tourist:  Angler's  Guide 

and  Reference  Book.    By  CIIARLKS  UALLOCK.    Illustrations.    Crown 

Svo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 
SCOTT'S  AMERICAN  FISHING.    Fishing  in  American  Waters.    By  Gn 

NIO  C.  SOOTT.    With  170  Illustrations.    Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 


2          Harper  &*  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

ANNUAL  RECORD  OF  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  FOR  1872.  Edited 
by  Prof.  SPENCER  F.  BAIUD,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  with  the  As 
sistance  of  Eminent  Men  of  Science.  12mo,  over  700  pp.,  Cloth,  $2  00. 
(Uniform  with  the  Annual  Record  of  Science  and  Industry  for  1S71. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00.) 

COL.  FORNEY'S  ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  Anecdotes  of  Public 
Men.  By  JOHN  W.  FORNEY.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

MISS  BEECHER'S  HOUSEKEEPER  AND  HEALTHKEEPER :  Contain 
ing  Five  Hundred  Recipes  for  Economical  and  Healthful  Cooking;  also, 
many  Directions  for  securing  Health  and  Happiness.  Approved  oy  Phy 
sicians  of  all  Classes.  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

FARM  BALLADS.  By  WILL  CARLETON.  Handsomely  Illustrated.  Square 
Svo,  Ornamental  Cloth,  $2  00 ;  Gilt  Edges,  $2  50. 

POETS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  The  Poets  cf  the  Nine 
teenth  Century.  Selected  and  Edited  by  the  Rev.  ROBERT  ARIS  WILL- 
MOTT.  With  English  and  American  Additions,  arranged  by  EVERT  A. 
DUYCKINOK,  Editor  of  "  Cyclopedia  of  American  Literature."  Compris* 
ing  Selections  from  the  Greatest  Authors  of  the  Age.  Superbly  Illus 
trated  with  141  Engravings  from  Designs  by  the  most  Eminent  Artists. 
In  elegant  small  4to  form,  printed  on  Superfine  Tinted  Paper,  richly 
bound  in  extra  Cloth,  Beveled,  Gilt  Edges,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $5  50 ;  Full 
Turkey  Morocco,  $9  00. 

THE  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTA 
MENT.  With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  P.  SOIIAFF,  D.D.  CIS  pp., 
Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

Thia  work  embraces  in  one  volume : 

I.  ON  A  FRESH  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NEW  TESTA 
MENT.  By  J.  B.  LIGUTFOOT,  D.D.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  IIul- 
sean  Professor  of  Divinity,  Cambridge.  Second  Edition,  Revised. 
196  pp. 

II.  ON  THE  AUTHORIZED  VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTA 
MENT  in  Connection  with  some  Recent  Proposals  for  its  Revision. 
By  RICHARD  CIIENEVIX  TRENCH,  D.D.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  194  pp. 
III.  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  By  C.  J.  ELLIOOTT,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol.  178  pp. 

NORDHOFF'S  CALIFORNIA.  California:  For  Health,  Pleasure,  and  Res 
idence.  A  Book  for  Travelers  and  Settlers.  Illustrated.  Svo,  Paper, 
$2  00 ;  Cloth,  $2  50. 

MOTLEY'S  DUTCH  REPUBLIC.  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  By 
JOHN  LOTHBOP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,D.C.L.  With  a  Portrait  of  William  of 
Orange.  3  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  50. 

MOTLEY'S  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  History  of  the  United  Nether 
lands:  from  the  Death  of  William  the  Silent  to  the  Twelve  Years'  Truce 
—1009.  With  a  full  View  of  the  English-Dutch  Struggle  against  Spain, 
and  of  the  Origin  and  Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  By  JOHN 
LOTIIEOP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  Portraits.  4  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $14  00. 

NAPOLEON'S  LIFE  OF  CJSSAR.  The  History  of  Julius  Caesar.  By  Ilia 
late  Imperial  Majesty  NAPOLEON  IIL  Two  Volumes  ready.  Library  Edi 
tion,  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50  per  vol. 

HAYDN'S  DICTIONARY  OF  DATES,  relating  to  all  Ages  and  Nations. 
For  Universal  Reference.  Edited  by  BENJAMIN  VINCENT,  Assistant  Secre 
tary  and  Keeper  of  the  Library  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  ; 
and  Revised  for  the  Use  of  American  Readers.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep, 
$000. 

MACGREGOR'S  ROB  ROY  ON  THE  JORDAN.  The  Rob  Hoy  on  the 
Jordan,  Nile,  Red  Sea,  and  Gennesareth,  &c.  A  Canoe  Cruise  in  Pales 
tine  and  Egypt,  and  the  Waters  of  Damascus.  By  J.  MAOGREQOB,  M.A. 
With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 


Harper  &*  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works.  3 

WALLACE'S  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO.  The  Malay  Archipelago:  the 
Land  of  the  Orang-Utan  and  the  Bird  of  Paradise;  A  Narrative  of  Trav 
el,  1S54-1S02.  With  Studies  of  Man  and  Nature.  By  ALFRED  RURSEL 
WALLACE.  With  Ten  Maps  and  Fifty-one  Elegant  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

WHYMPER'S  ALASKA.  Travel  and  Adventure  in  the  Territory  of  Alas 
ka,  formerly  Russian.  America — now  Ceded  to  the  United  States — and  in 
various  other  parts  of  the  North  Pacific.  By  FREDERICK  WUTMVEB. 
With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

ORTON'S  ANDES  AND  THE  AMAZON.  The  Andes  and  the  Amazon ;  or, 
Across  the  Continent  of  South  America.  By  JAMES  ORTON,  M.  A.,  Pro 
fessor  of  Natural  History  in  Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  and 
Corresponding  Member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadel 
phia.  With  a  New  Map  of  Equatorial  America  and  numerous  Illustra 
tions.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

WINCHELL'S  SKETCHES  OF  CREATION.  Sketches  of  Creation:  a 
Popular  View  of  some  of  the  Grand  Conclusions  of  the  Sciences  in  ref 
erence  to  the  History  of  Matter  and  of  Life.  Together  with  a  Statement 
of  the  Intimations  of  Science  respecting  the  Primordial  Condition  and 
the  Ultimate  Destiny  of  the  Earth  and  the  Solar  System.  By  ALEXAN 
DER  WINCHELL,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  of  the  Syracuse  University.  With 
Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

WHITE'S  MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW.  The  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew :  Preceded  by  a  History  of  the  Religious  Wars  in  the  Reign 
of  Charles  IX.  By  HENRY  WHITE,  M.  A.  With  Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth, 
$1  75. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  Pictorial  Field-Book 
of  the  Revolution  ;  or,  Illustrations,  by  Pen  and  Pencil,  of  the  History, 
Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  War  for  Independ 
ence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSINO.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $14  00;  Sheep,  $15  00; 
Half  Calf,  $18  00 ;  Full  Turkey  Morocco,  $22  00. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812.  Pictorial  Field-Book 
of  the  War  of  1812  ;  or,  Illustrations,  by  Pen  and  Pencil,  of  the  History, 
Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  Last  War  for  Ameri 
can  Independence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSINO.  With  several  hundred  En 
gravings  on  Wood,  by  Lossiug  and  Barritt,  chiefly  from  Original  Sketch 
es  by  the  Author.  1083  pages,  Svo,  Cloth,  $700;  Sheep,"  $8  50;  Half 
Calf,  $10  00. 

ALFORD'S  GREEK  TESTAMENT.  The  Greek  Testament :  with  a  crit 
ically  revised  Text ;  a  Digest  of  Various  Readings ;  Marginal  References 
to  Verbal  and  Idiomatic  Usage ;  Prolegomena  ;  and  a  Critical  and  Exe- 
getical  Commentary.  For  the  Use  of  Theological  Students  and  Minis 
ters.  By  HENRY  ALFORP,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Canterbury.  Vol.  I.,  contain-, 
ing  the  Four  Gospels.  944  pages,  Svo,  Cloth,  $6  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  50. 

ABBOTT'S  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.  The  History  of  Frederick  the 
Second,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By  JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  Elegantly 
Illustrated.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

ABBOTT'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  The  French 
Revolution  of  1789,  as  viewed  in  the  Light  of  Republican  Institutions. 
By  JOUN  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  With  100  Engravings.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

ABBOTT'S  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  The  History  of  Napoleon  Bona 
parte.  By  JOUN  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  With  Maps,  Woodcuts,  and  Portraits  on 
Steel.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  00. 

ABBOTT'S  NAPOLEON  AT  ST.  HELENA;  or,  Interesting  Anecdotes  and 
Remarkable  Conversations  of  the  Emperor  during  the  Five  and  a  Half 
Years  of  his  Captivity.  Collected  from  the  Memorials  of  Las  Casas, 
O'Meara,  Montholou,  Antommarchi,  and  others.  By  JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT. 
With  Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

ADDISON'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Joseph  Addison,  em 
bracing  the  whole  of  the  "Spectator."  Complete  iu  3  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth, 
$600. 


4          Harper  cr5  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

ALCOCK'S  JAPAN.  The  Capital  of  the  Tycoon :  a  Narrative  of  a  Three 
Years'  Residence  in  Japan.  By  Sir  RUTHERFORD  ALCOCK,  K.C.B.,  Her 
Majesty's  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  Japan. 
With  Maps  and  Engravings.  1  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

ALISON'S  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  FIRST  SERIES  :  From  the  Commence 
ment  of  the  French  Revolution,  in  1789,  to  the  Restoration  of  the  Bour 
bons,  in  1S15.  [In  addition  to  the  Notes  on  Chapter  LXXVL,  which  cor 
rect  the  errors  of  the  original  work  concerning  the  United  States,  a  copi 
ous  Analytical  Index  has  been  appended  to  this  American  Edition.] 
SECOND  SERIES  :  From  the  Fall  of  Napoleon,  in  1815,  to  the  Accession  of 
Louis  Napoleon,  in  1852.  8  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  00. 

EARTH'S  NORTH  AND  CENTRAL  AFRICA.  Travels  and  Discoveries  in 
North  and  Central  Africa :  being  a  Journal  of  an  Expedition  undertaken 
under  the  Auspices  of  H.B.M.'s  Government,  in  the  Years  1849-1855.  By 
HENRY  BABTII,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.  Illustrated.  3  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SERMONS.  Sermons  by  HENRY  WART> 
BEKCIIER,  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn.  Selected  from  Published  and 
Unpublished  Discourses,  and  Revised  by  their  Author.  With  Steel  Por 
trait.  Complete  in  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

LYMAN  BEECHER'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY,  &o.  Autobiography,  Corres 
pondence,  «fec.,  of  Lyinan  Beecher,  D.D.  Edited  by  his  Son,  CHARLES 
BEECUKR.  With  Three  Steel  Portraits,  and  Engravings  on  Wood.  In  2 
vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BOSWELL'S  JOHNSON.  The  Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.  Including 
a  Journey  to  the  Hebrides.  By  JAMES  BOSWELL,  Esq.  A  New  Edition, 
with  numerous  Additions  and  Notes.  By  JOHN  WILSON  CROKEB,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.  Portrait  of  Boswell.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

DRAPER'S  CIVIL  WAR.  History  of  the  American  Civil  War.  By  JOHN 
W.  DRAPER,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the 
University  of  New  York.  In  Three  Vols.  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50  per  vol. 

DRAPER'S  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPE.  A  Histo 
ry  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe.  By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER, 
M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the  University 
of  New  York.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

DRAPER'S  AMERICAN  CIVIL  POLICY.  Thoughts  on  the  Future  Civil 
Policy  of  America.  By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of 
Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the  University  of  New  York.  Crown  Svo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  AFRICA.  Explorations  and  Adventures  in  Equatorial  Af 
rica,  with  Accounts  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  People,  and  of 
the  Chase  of  the  Gorilla,  the  Crocodile,  Leopard,  Elephant,  Hippopota 
mus,  and  other  Animals.  By  PAUL  B.  Du  CIIAILLCT.  Numerous  Illus 
trations.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  ASHANGO  LAND.  A  Journey  to  Ashango  Land:  and 
Further  Penetration  into  Equatorial  Africa.  By  PAUL  B.  Du  CUAILI.U. 
New  Edition.  Handsomely  Illustrated.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BELLOWS'S  OLD  WORLD.  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face :  Impressions 
of  Europe  in  1S67-1SC8.  By  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$350. 

BRODHEAD'S  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK.  History  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  By  JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD.  1GOO-1G91.  2  vols.  Svo,  Cloth, 
$3  00  per  vol. 

BROUGHAM'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  Life  and  Times  of  HENRY,  LORD 
BROUGHAM.  Written  by  Himself.  In  Three  Volumes.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00  per  vol. 

BULWER'S  PROSE  WORKS.  Miscellaneous  Prose  Works  of  Edward  Bul- 
wer,  Lord  Lytton.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 


Harper  <S°  Brothers1  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works.          5 

BULWER'S  HORACE.  The  Odes  and  Epodes  of  Horace.  A  Metrical 
Translation  into  English.  With  Introduction  and  Commentaries.  By 
LORD  LYTTON.  With  Latin  Text  from  the  Editions  of  Orelli,  Macleaue, 
and  Youge.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  15. 

BULWER'S  KING  ARTHUR,  A  Poem.  By  LORD  LYTTON.  New  Edition. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

BURNS'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS.  The  Life  and  Works  of  Robert  Burns. 
Edited  by  ROBERT  CHAMBERS.  4  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $G  00. 

REINDEER,  DOGS,  AND  SNOW-SHOES.  A  Journal  of  Siberian  Travel 
and  Explorations  made  in  the  Years  1SG5-'G7.  By  RICHARD  J.  BUSH,  late 
of  the  Rnsso- American  TelegrapliExpeditiou.  Illustrated.  Crown  Svo, 
Cloth,  $3  00. 

CARLYLE'S  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.  History  of  Friedrich  II.,  called 
Frederick  the  Great.  By  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Portraits,  Maps,  Plans, 
&c.  6  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

CARLYLE'S  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  History  of  the  French  Revolution. 
2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

CARLYLE'S  OLIVER  CROMWELL.  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Oliver 
Cromwell.  With  Elucidations  and  Connecting  Narrative.  2  vols.,  12ino, 
Cloth,  $3  50. 

CHALMERS'S  POSTHUMOUS  WORKS.  The  Posthumous  Works  of  Dr. 
Chalmers.  Edited  by  his  Son-iu-Law,  Rev.  WILLIAM  HANNA,  LL.D. 
Complete  in  9  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $13  50. 

COLERIDGE'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Complete  Works  of  Samuel 
Taylor  Coleridge.  With  an  Introductory  Essay  upon  his  Philosophical 
and  Theological  Opinions.  Edited  by  Professor  SHEDD.  Complete  in 
Seven  Vols.  With  a  Portrait.  Small  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  50. 

DOOLITTLE'S  CHINA.  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese :  with  some  Account  of 
their  Religious,  Governmental,  Educational,  and  Business  Customs  and 
Opinions.  With  special  bnt  not  exclusive  Reference  to  Fuhchan.  By 
Rev.  JUSTUS  DOOLITTLE,  Fourteen  Years  Member  of  the  Fuhchau  Mis 
sion  of  the  American  Board.  Illustrated  with  more  that  150  character 
istic  Engravings  on  Wood.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

GIBBON'S  ROME.  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
By  EDWARD  GIBUON.  With  Notes  by  Rev.  II.  II.  MILMAN  and  M.  GUIZOT. 
A  new  cheap  Edition.  To  which  is  added  a  complete  Index  of  the  whole 
Work,  and  a  Portrait  of  the  Author.  G  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $0  00. 

HAZEN'S  SCHOOL  AND  ARMY  IN  GERMANY  AND  FRANCE.  The 
School  and  the  Army  in  Germany  and  France,  with  a  Diary  of  Sieire 
Life  at  Versailles.  By  Brevet  Major-General  W.  B.  HAZEN,  U.S.A.,  Col 
onel  Sixth  Infantry.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

HARPER'S  NEW  CLASSICAL  LIBRARY.    Literal  Translations. 
The  following  Vols.  are  now  ready.    12tno,  Cloth,  $1  50  each. 
CAESAR. — VIRGIL. — SALLUST. — HORACE. —  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. — CICERO'S 
OFFICES,  &c. — CICERO  ON  ORATORY  AND  ORATORS. — TACITUS  (2  vols.). 
— TERENCE. — SOPHOCLES. — JUVENAL. — XENOPHON. — HOMER'S  ILIAD. — 
HOMER'S  ODYSSEY.  — HERODOTUS.  — DEMOSTHENES.  — THUCYDIDES.  — 
AESCHYLUS. — EURIPIDES  (2  vols.). — LIVY  (2  vols.). 

DA  VIS'S  CARTHAGE.  Carthage  and  her  Remains:  being  an  Account  of 
the  Excavations  and  Researches  on  the  Site  of  the  Phoenician  Metropo 
lis  in  Africa  and  other  adjacent  Places.  Conducted  under  the  Auspices 
of  Her  Majesty's  Government.  By  Dr.  DAVIS,  F.R.G.S.  Profusely  Illus 
trated  with  Maps,  Woodcuts,  Chromo-Lithographs,  &c.  Svo,  Cloth, 
$-1  00. 

EDGE  WORTH'S  (Miss)  NOVELS.  With  Engravings.  10  vols.,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $15  00. 

GROTE'S  HISTORY  OF  GREECE.    12  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1S  00. 


6          Harper  6°  Brothers*  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

HELPS'S  SPANISH  CONQUEST.  The  Spanish  Conquest  in  America,  and 
its  Relation  to  the  History  of  Slavery  and  to  the  Government  of  Colonies. 
By  AUTHOR  HELPS.  4  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $6  00. 

HALE'S  (MRS.)  WOMAN'S  RECORD.  Woman's  Record  ;  or,  Bior-apbical 
Sketches  of  all  Distinguished  Women,  from  the  Creation  to  the;  Present 
Time.  Arranged  in  Four  Eras,  with  Selections  from  Female  Writers  of 
Each  Era.  By  Mrs.  SAKAU  JOSEPUA  HALE.  Illustrated  with  more  than 
200  Portraits.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

HALL'S  ARCTIC  RESEARCHES.  Arctic  Researches  and  Life  among  the 
Esquimaux :  being  the  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  in  Search  of  Sir  John 
Franklin,  in  the  Years  1SGO,  1861,  and  18G2.  By  CHARLES  FRANCIS  HALL. 
With  Maps  and  100  Illustrations.  The  Illustrations  are  from  the  Origi 
nal  Drawings  by  Charles  Parsons,  Henry  L.  Stephens,  Solomon  Eytinge, 
W.  S.  Lu  Jewettt  and  Gnmville  Perkins,  after  Sketches  by  Captain  Hall 
8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

UALLAM'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND,  from  the  Ac 
cession  of  Henry  VII.  to  the  Death  of  George  II.  Svo,  Clotn,  $2  00. 

UALLAM'S  LITERATURE.  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe  dur 
ing  the  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  and  Seventeenth  Centuries.  By  HENRY 
HALLAM.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

UALLAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES.  State  of  Europe  duri^o-  the  Middle  A"-es. 
By  HENRY  HALLAM.  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

HILDRETH'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  FIRST  SERIES: 
From  the  First  Settlement  of  the  Country  to  the  Adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution..  SECOND  SERIKS  :  From  the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution  to  the  End  of  the  Sixteenth  Congress.  6  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth, 
$1S  00. 

HUME'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  History  of  England,  from  the  Inva 
sion  of  Julius  Cocsar  to  the  Abdication  of  James  II.,  1G88.  By  DAVID 
HUME.  A  new  Edition,  with  the  Author's  last  Corrections  and  Improve 
ments.  To  which  is  Prefixed  a  short  Account  of  his  Life,  written  by 
Himself.  With  a  Portrait  of  the  Author.  G  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $9  00. 

JAY'S  WORKS.  Complete  Works  of  Rev.  William  Jay :  comprising  his 
Sermons,  Family  Discourses,  Morning  and  Evening  Exercises  for  every 
Day  in  the  Year,  Family  Prayers,  &c.  Author's  enlarged  Edition,  re 
vised.  3  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $6  00. 

JEFFERSON'S  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  The  Domestic  Life  of  Thomas  Jeffer 
son:  compiled  from  Family  Letters  and  Reminiscences,  by  his  Great- 
Granddaughter,  SARAH  N.  RANDOLPH.  With  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo, 
Illuminated  Cloth,  Beveled  Edges,  $2  50. 

JOHNSON'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D. 
With  an  Essay  on  his  Life  and  Genius,  by  ARTHUR  MURPUY,  Esq.  Por 
trait  of  Johnson.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

KINGLAKE'S  CRIMEAN  WAR.  The  Invasion  of  the  Crimea,  and  an  Ac 
count  of  its  Progress  down  to  the  Death  of  Lord  Raglan.  By  ALEXAN 
DER  WILLIAM  KINGLAKE.  With  Maps  and  Plans.  Two  Vols.  ready. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol. 

KINGSLEY'S  WEST  INDIES.  At  Last :  A  Christmas  in  the  West  Indies. 
By  CHARLES  KINGBLEY.  Illustrated.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

KRUMMACIIER'S  DAVID,  KING  OF  ISRAEL.  David,  the  King  of  Isra 
el  :  a  Portrait  drawn  from  Bible  History  and  the  Book  of  Psalms.  By 
FREDERICK  WILLIAM  KRUMMACHER,  D.D.,  Author  of  "Elijah  the  Tish- 
nite,"  &c.  Translated  under  the  express  Sanction  of  the  Author  by  the 
Rev.  M.  G.  EASTON,  M.A.  With  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Krummacher  to  his 
American  Readers,  and  a  Portrait.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1  75. 

LAMB'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Charles  Lamb.  Compris 
ing  his  Letters,  Poems,  Essays  of  Elia,  Essays  upon  Shakspeare,  Ho- 
parth,  &c.,  and  a  Sketch  of  his  Life,  with  the  Final  Memorials,  by  T.  NOON 
TALFOUED.  Portrait.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 


Harper  &*  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works.  7 

LIVINGSTONE'S  SOUTH  AFRICA.  Missionary  Travels  and  Researches 
iu  South  Africa  ;  including  a  Sketch  of  Sixteen  Years'  Residence  in  the 
Interior  of  Africa,  and  a  Journey  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Loan- 
do  on  the  West  Coast;  thence  across  the  Continent,  down  the  River 
Zambesi,  to  the  Eastern  Ocean.  By  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE,  LL.D.,  D.C.L. 
With  Portrait,  Maps  by  Arrowsmith,  and  numerous  Illustrations.  Svo, 
Cloth,  $4  50. 

LIVINGSTONES'  ZAMBESI.  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi 
and  its  Tributaries,  and  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Lakes  Shirwa  and  Ny- 
assa.  1S53-18G4.  By  DAVID  and  CUARLES  LIVINGSTONE.  \Vith  Map  aud 
Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

M'CLINTOCK  &  STRONG'S  CYCLOPAEDIA.  Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical, 
Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical  Literature.  Prepared  by  the  Rev.  JOHN 
M'CLINTOCK,  D.D.,  and  JAMES  STRONG,  S.T.D.  5  voU.  now  read;/.  Royal 
Svo,  Price  per  vol.,  Cloth,  $5  00;  Sheep,  $C  00;  Half  Morocco,  $S  00. 

MARCY'S  ARMY  LIFE  ON  THE  BORDER.  Thirty  Years  of  Army  Life 
on  the  Border.  Comprising  descriptions  of  the  Indian  Nomads  of  the 
Plains  ;  Explorations  of  New  Territory  ;  a  Trip  across  the  Rocky  Mount 
ains  in  the  Winter;  Descriptions  of  the  Habits  of  Different  Animals 
found  iu  the  West,  and  the  Methods  of  Hunting  them  ;  with  Incidents 
in  the  Life  of  Different  Frontier  Men,  &c.,  &c.  By  Brevet  Brigadier- 
General  R.  B.  MARCY,  U.S.A.,  Author  of  "The  Prairie  Traveller."  With 
numerous  Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth,  Beveled  Edges,  $3  00. 

MACAULAY'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  The  History  of  England  from 
the  Accession  of  James  II.  By  THOMAS  BABINQTOK  MAOAULAY.  With 
an  Original  Portrait  of  the  Author.  5  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $10  00;  12mo, 
Cloth,  $T  50. 

MOSIIEIM'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY,  Ancient  and  Modern;  in 
which  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Variation  of  Church  Power  are  considered 
in  their  Connection  with  the  State  of  Learning  and  Philosophy,  and  the 
Political  History  of  Europe  during  that  Period.  Translated,  with  Notes, 
&c.,  by  A.  MACLAINK,  D.D.  A  new  Edition,  continued  to  1820,  by  C. 
COOTK,  LL.D.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

THE  DESERT  OF  THE  EXODUS.  Journeys  on  Foot  in  the  Wilderness 
of  the  Forty  Years'  Wanderings;  undertaken  in  connection  with  the 
Ordnance  Survey  of  Sinai  and  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund.  By  E. 
II.  PALMER,  M.A.,  Lord  Almoner's  Professor  of  Arabic,  aud  Fellow  of 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  With  Maps  and  numerous  Illustrations 
from  Photographs  and  Drawings  taken  on  the  spot  by  the  Sinai  Survey 
Expedition  and  C.  F.  Tyrwhitt  Drake.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

OLIPHANT'S  CHINA  AND  JAPAN.  Narrative  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin's  Mis 
sion  to  China  and  Japan,  in  the  Years  1S5T,  '53,  '59.  By  LAURENCE  OT.T- 
PUANT,  Private  Secretary  to  Lord  Elgiu.  Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

OLIPHANT'S  (MRS.)  LIFE  OF  EDWARD  IRVING.     The  Life  of  Edward 
Irving,  Minister  of  the  National  Scotch  Church,  London.     Illustrated  by 
his  Journals  and  Correspondence.    By  Mrs.  OLIPHA.NT.    Portrait.    Svo, 
•   Cloth,  $3  50. 

RAWLINSON'S  MANUAL  OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY.  A  Manual  of  An 
cient  History,  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Fall  of  the  Western  Empire. 
Comprising  the  History  of  Chaldaea,  Assyria,  Media,  Babylonia,  Lydia, 
Phoenicia,  Syria,  Judsea,  Egypt,  Carthage,  Persia,  Greece,  Macedonia, 
Parthia,  aud  Rome.  By  GKORGE  RAWLINSON,  M.A.,  Camden  Professor 


ara,  au        ome.       y     KORGE      AWLINSON,      ..,     amen 
of  Ancient  History  in  the  University  of  Oxford.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2 


50. 


RECLUS'S  THE  EARTH.  The  Earth:  A  Descriptive  History  of  the  Phe 
nomena  and  Life  of  the  Globe.  By  E"LISEE  RECLUS.  Translated  by  the 
late  B.  B.  Woodward,  and  Edited  by  Henry  Woodward.  With  234  Maps 
and  Illustrations  and  23  Page  Maps  printed  in  Colors.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

RECLUS'S  OCEAN.  The  Ocean,  Atmosphere,  and  Life.  Being  the  Second 
Series  of  a  Descriptive  History  of  the  Life  of  the  Globe.  By  ILLIS&R  RE 
CLUS.  Profusely  Illustrated  with  250  Maps  or  Figures,  and  2T  Maps 
printed  in  Colors.  Svo,  Cloth,  $0  00. 


8          Harper  <2r»  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works, 

SHAKSPEARE.  The  Dramatic  Works  of  William  Shakspeare,  with  the 
Corrections  and  Illustrations  of  Dr.  JOHNSON,  G.  STKVENB,  and  others. 
Revised  by  ISAAC  REED.  Engravings,  C  vols,  Royal  12mo,  Cloth,  $9  00. 
2  vols.,  Svd^loth,  £4  00. 

SMILES'S  LIFE  OF  THE  STEPHENSONS.  The  Life  of  George  Stephen- 
eon,  and  of  his  Son,  Robert  Stephenson  ;  comprising,  also,  a  History  of 
the  Invention  and  Introduction  of  the  Railway  Locomotive.  By  SAMCKL 
SMILES,  Author  of  "  Self-Help,"  &c.  With  Steel  Portraits  and  numerous 
Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

SMILES'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.  The  Huguenots:  their  Set 
tlements,  Churches,  and  Industries  in  England  and  Ireland.  By  SAMUEL 
SMILKS.  With  an  Appendix  relating  to  the  Huguenots  in  America. 
Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

SPEKE'S  AFRICA.  Journal  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Source  of  the  Nile. 
By  Captain  JOHN  MANNING  SPKKE,  Captain  H.M.  Indian  Army,  Fellow 
and  Gold  Medalist  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  Hon.  Correspond 
ing  Member  and  Gold  Medalist  of  the  French  Geographical  Society,  &c. 
With  Maps  and  Portraits  and  numerous  Illustrations,  chiefly  from  Draw 
ings  by  Captain  GRANT.  8vo,  Cloth,  uniform  with  Livingstone,  Barth, 
Burton,  &c.,  $4  00. 

STRICKLAND'S  (Miss)  QUEENS  OF  SCOTLAND.  Lives  of  the  Queens  of 
Scotland  and  English  Princesses  connected  with  the  Regal  Succession 
of  Great  Britain.  Py  AGNUS  STEIOKLAND.  8  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

THE  STUDENT'S  SERIES. 

France.    Engravings.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Gibbon.     Engravings.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Greece.    Engravings.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Hume.     Engravings.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2  CO. 

Rome.    By  Liddell.     Engravings.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Old  Testament  History.    Engravings.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

New  Testament  History.    Engravings,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Strickland's  Queens  of  England.    Abridged.    Eug's.    12'mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Ancient  History  of  the  East,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Hallam's  Middle  Ages.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of  England.    12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Lyell's  Elements  of  Geology.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

TENNYSON'S  COMPLETE  POEMS.  The  Complete  Poems  of  Alfred  Ten 
nyson,  Poet  Laureate.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  Eminent  Artists, 
and  Three  Characteristic  Portraits.  Svo,  Paper,  75  cents ;  Cloth,  $1  '25. 

THOMSON'S  LAND  AND  THE  BOOK.  The  Land  and  the  Book;  or,  Bib 
lical  Illustrations  drawn  from  the  Manners  and  Customs,  the  Scenes 
and  the  Scenery  of  the  Holy  Land.  By  W.  M.  THOMSON,  D.D.,  Twenty- 
live  Years  a  Missionary  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.  in  Syria  and  Palestine.  With 
two  elaborate  Maps  of  Palestine,  an  accurate  Plan  of  Jerusalem,  and 
several  hundred  Engravings,  representing  the  Scenery,  Topography,  and 
Productions  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  Costumes,  Manners,  and  Habits 
of  the  People.  2  large  12mo  vols.,  Cloth,  $0  00. 

TYERMAN'S  WESLEY.  The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley, 
M.A.,  Founder  of  the  Methodists.  By  the  Rev.  LUKE  TVKEMAN.  Por 
traits.  3  vols.,  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $7  50. 

TYERMAN'S  OXFORD  METHODISTS.  The  Oxford  Methodists :  Memoirs 
of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Clayton,  Ingham,  Gambold,  Hervey,  and  Broughton, 
with  Biographical  Notices  of  others.  By  the  Rev.  L.  TYEKMAN.  With 
Portraits.  Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

VAMBERY'S  CENTRAL  ASIA.  Travels  in  Central  Asia.  Being  the  Ac 
count  of  a  Journey  from  Teheren  across  the  Turkoman  Desert,  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  the  Caspian,  to  Khiva,  Bokhara,  and  Sainarcand,  per 
formed  in  the  Year  1SG3.  By  AUMINIUS  VAMEEUY,  Member  of  the  Hun 
garian  Academy  of  Pesth,  by  whom  he  was  sent  on  this  Scientific  M  is- 
sion.  With  Map  and  Woodcuts.  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  50. 

WOOD'S  HOMES  WITHOUT  HANDS.  Homes  Without  Hands:  being  a 
Description  of  the  Habitations  of  Animals,  classed  according  to  their 
Principle  of  Construction.  Bv  J.  G.  WOOD,  M.A.,  F.L.S.  With  about 
140  Illustrations.  Svo,  Cloth,  Beveled  Edges,  $4  50. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED  ] 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Rei 


8Ji 


55§    . 


MAY  3      1953 

ID 

21958 


LD  21-100m-6,'56 
(B9311slO)476 


lediate  recall. 

lEC'D  LD 

TIEC  1    1959 


16 
LOAN  DIEPT. 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


388807 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  I/IBRARY 


